Mounties say it was "miraculous" more people were not seriously injured or killed when a woman drove west from Surrey to Coquitlam in the eastbound lane of the Trans-Canada Highway Thursday night.
The incident started at around 7:45 p.m. in the 16000 block of Highway 1 in Surrey, continued over the Port Mann Bridge and ended when police used one of their vehicles to push the suspect driver off the road underneath the Brunette Overpass.
"It was a dangerous situation," said Coquitlam RCMP Sgt. Darren Pankratz. "The fact this didn't end differently is miraculous. The potential for significant head-on collisions at highway speeds was high."
He added that it was "good old fashioned luck" that someone was not seriously hurt or killed.
Still, there were some minor injuries when the woman caused another driver on the Surrey side to swerve out of the way, crashing into a concrete barrier before hitting another vehicle.
The RCMP's Air 1 helicopter followed the vehicle over the Port Mann Bridge, where she is believed to have caused another accident near the Cape Horn Interchange. A short while later, police were able to catch up with her and disable her vehicle at Brunette.
Pankratz said he would not be surprised if other vehicles were damaged during the incident.
"We may still get some reporting of minor vehicle damage," he added. "Whether there were vehicles that had gone off the shoulder or had damage, we would certainly like to have them report that into us."
Anyone who witnessed the incident or was somehow involved is asked to call the Coquitlam RCMP at 604-945-1550.
Pankratz said it is still unclear why the woman was driving in the wrong direction. Witnesses told The Tri-City News that the woman appeared distraught when she was taken into custody, however police are still investigating exactly what happened.
"We don't know the cause of this," Pankratz said, adding the investigation could go in multiple directions. "Clearly, we are investigating the cause, whether it was impairment or other factors that led to the circumstances or whether there are grounds to pursue criminal charges for dangerous driving."
The incident snarled traffic on Highway 1 while police investigated.
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