Long weekend crashes claim at least 12 lives

Long weekend crashes claim at least 12 lives

TORONTO – At least a dozen people lost their lives on Canadian highways during the Victoria Day weekend.

Four of the deaths occurred Monday in twin collisions 10 minutes apart caused by the same driver who police believe was drunk and bent on suicide.

Quebec Provincial Police say a man first steered his van into the path of a small car on Highway 165 near Plessisville.

A 24-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were killed in the collision and two other people in the car were taken to hospital.

The man then left the accident scene in his ex-wife’s vehicle and smashed into a pickup truck, killing himself and his four-year-old son.

Two people in the pickup were injured.

Also on Monday afternoon, in Exeter, Ont., near London, two people were killed and four others suffered serious injuries in a four-vehicle crash.

Provincial police say two vehicles became caught up in a crash that occurred when a third vehicle tried to pass a transport truck.

In eastern Ontario, near Hawkesbury, a 67-year-old female passenger on a motorcycle died after a collision with a minivan on Saturday. Also on Saturday, an 18-year-old man was killed after a stolen car smashed into a house in London, Ont.

In western Canada, two people died after a car and pickup truck collided at the intersection of two rural highways west of Edmonton on Saturday.

RCMP in Stony Plain, Alta., say a passenger in the pickup died in hospital in Edmonton on Sunday afternoon. The driver of the car died from his injuries Saturday night.

In Sask., near Esterhazy, a 57-year-old man has died from his injuries after his vehicle left a highway and rolled on Sunday.

In B.C., one person died following a single vehicle accident on the Coquihalla Highway about 25 kilometres south of Kamloops.