A motorist involved in a series of accidents early Tuesday morning, including driving westbound in the eastbound lane of the Trans-Canada Highway and crashing into a power pole, did so as a result of a “medical issue,” police say.
Around 6:49 a.m., the male driver of an Oldsmobile Alero was driving the wrong way on the TCH east of Dunmore before driving into a ditch.
After getting back on the road – this time in the right direction – the driver crashed into a power pole.
He then proceeded to Ross Glen Drive, where he was involved in a motor vehicle collision.
The Oldsmobile driver was assessed on scene and taken to the hospital, as medics determined the issue was medical in nature.
Const. Darren Holeha of the Medicine Hat Police Service Traffic Unit said police cannot disclose the nature of the medical issue.
“That doesn’t get released to the police either, because of privacy issues people have with their own medical issues,” Holeha told the News.
There were no injuries to either driver. Police estimate total damage to the vehicles and power pole is greater than $8,000.
Holeha says police decided to publicize the incident due to the amount of eyewitnesses who may want to know what happened while they were on their way to work in the morning.
“When you have a vehicle that’s going in the wrong lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway, has a collision with a power pole and then ends up having a collision with another vehicle on Ross Glen Drive, it’s kind of a high-profile accident, more than some of the other ones are,” he said.
The MHPS Traffic Unit is investigating the incident and have submitted a report to the Alberta Traffic Safety Board.
