It could have been a lot worse.
Only one person suffered minor injuries and was transported to hospital after a collision between a TransLink bus and a GMC truck on the Barnet Highway near Reed Point Way on Sunday morning.
Police say road conditions played a role when the driver of the westbound truck lost control and flipped onto its roof into the oncoming lanes of the thoroughfare, colliding with the eastbound 160 bus that travels from Vancouver, through Burnaby to Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam. The bus subsequently skidded into the ditch and ended up on its side, with one of its escape windows flipped open.
Neither driver was injured, and the person transported to hospital was the only passenger on the bus.
“We are thankful that there were no serious injuries resulting from the incident,” said Port Moody Police Department Constable Sam Zacharias in a press release, adding slick road conditions from an overnight freeze may have been a factor in the collision.
Several emergency vehicles were dispatched to the scene, including Port Moody Fire Rescue and BC Ambulance Service.
Traffic along the busy highway was disrupted for several hours as the bus had to be extracted from the ditch by a heavy-duty tow truck. TransLink reported the bus was returned to one of its depots for inspection.
Zacharias said there were several incidents on local roadways over the past week of extreme cold, snow and icy streets.
“We have responded to numerous collisions involving road and weather conditions in the past week, serving as a reminder for everyone to exercise extra caution on the roadways.”
