Police say they responded to a semi-truck that crashed through the Galey Farms market after veering off the road and hitting power poles just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 6.
Officers from the Saanich Police Department's Traffic Safety Unit and Patrol Division responded and closed Blenkinsop Road near the crash site to ensure public safety until BC Hydro crews could address the downed power lines.
"So first of all, the most important thing is that nobody was injured. The driver walked away and off to hospital, but walked away," said Rob Galey, owner of the farm, adding that his staff got out of the building when they heard the truck crash through the first pole.
He said they are looking at options to open a temporary market to sell their produce, hopefully by Thursday, as they do rely on retail sales.
"Just like everything in farming, I'm going to have to come up with a plan, and we make it through floods and heatwaves and everything else. This is just another fork in the road," said Galey.
He says he has seen an uptick of vehicle incidents along that stretch of road, namely near the corners with Mount Douglas Cross Road and Blenkinsop Greenway, as the population grows in Cordova Bay and more and more vehicles take that route to commute into the city.
"This is a full wake-up call. If staff didn't run, somebody could've been killed," he said.
BC Hydro crews responded just before 10 a.m., and the road reopened just before 11 a.m.
"The circumstances that lead to the collision are still under investigation, but drugs and alcohol do not appear to be a factor," noted a statement from Saanich PD.
