Thursday night's crash on the Malahat was fatal.
A mini-van tried to cross the highway to get into a turning lane but was T-boned by a northbound truck. Fire Chief Rob Patterson gave C-FAX 1070's Al Ferraby the update Friday morning, "I understand that the one driver has some minor injuries and he'll be fine. Sadly, last night, the gentleman from the mini-van succumbed to his injuries.
The crash closed the Malahat for several hours and while emergency crews were dealing with the situation the scene turned ugly in a different way. Chief Patterson says frustrated drivers started taking out their frustrations on the first responders with verbal abuse.
"Quite frankly we had some really nasty people in the traffic line up. There was a lot of yelling and screaming," says Patterson. "They don't realize that the accident happened in the middle of the highway and it’s a crime scene. So until they figure out who, what, where, when and why everything shuts down and nothing moves."
He says people tried to ignore the closed area and drive through the crash scene.
The Malahat was closed from the Summit to the Bamberton exit from 4:45 until about 9:30pm.