An injured pedestrian, a trail of crashed cars and scattered debris were left in the wake of a lone vehicle that twice crossed roadway medians at a busy intersection in Victoria Wednesday.
Blanshard Street, from Hillside to Caledonia avenues, was closed to traffic for at least three hours following the noontime accident.
The chaos began when a gold-coloured Toyota Corolla, heading northbound in the curbside lane on Blanshard Street, ran a red light at Bay Street.
It shot through the cycling lane, on and over the median, striking a female pedestrian crossing Blanshard Street.
She was thrown to the ground, and though the extent of her injuries was not immediately known, she apparently did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
"The vehicle continues and strikes a car that's turning right off of Bay, onto Blanshard," said Victoria police Const. Mike Russell. "That sends the gold Corolla across all three lanes of traffic, it hops the median into the southbound lanes and strikes two cars on the side and one head-on."
About a dozen Victoria patrol and traffic police officers, as well as emergency personnel from the Victoria Fire Department and the B.C. Ambulance Service attended the scene.
The two occupants of the Toyota, believed to be a man and woman, were taken to hospital, also with unknown injuries.
Victoria police have not yet determined the cause of the crash, which will be a big job given the extent of the damage.
"The best analogy that I heard from the crash guys is, 'What we have here is somebody took a piece of paper, tore it up into a million pieces, threw it on the ground and said, 'Have fun,'" Russell said.
"Until we get a chance to actually see the driver or the passenger in the original car, or get some better forensic evidence, we just don't know (the cause)."
emccracken@vicnews.com