CARLETON, P.E.I. — Within hours of one vehicle crash at the intersection of Coleman Corner near the Trout River Bridge in Carleton, a second vehicle tumbled off the road early Saturday morning.
Jason Arsenault was watching television with his wife when they heard the “bang” on Friday evening.
“It happened right in front of my property line and I was one of the first people on the scene, before the Island EMS, O’Leary Volunteer Fire Department, and Prince County RCMP arrived,” said Arsenault, who raced to get on his shoes and coat to help those involved while his wife dialed 911.
“It didn’t take me long to get to the car to help. They (one male and one female vehicle occupant) were already outside of the Honda Civic sitting nearby on the ground. Their injuries were minor from what I could see. Another neighbour arrived shortly after and we put them in a vehicle to keep them safe, calm, and warm,” he said.
Blain Buchanan, captain of the O’Leary Volunteer Fire Department, said the call came into the fire hall on Friday at around 11:30 p.m.
“It was minor injuries in the first (incident), and then the second the person was absent from the scene,” said Buchanan.
The O'Leary Fire Department sent out two fire trucks for the first incident, and three to the second that bizarrely happened just hours later at the same location on Saturday at around 5:30 a.m. when the call came in.
“It’s definitely a safe section of highway, it’s a smooth, nice, wide road, and there is no logical reason why you would drive off the highway there,” said Arsenault.
“I was driving back home after work (shortly after 5 a.m.) and studying the black skid marks on the road and wondering how the crash happened. I continued on my way home, and sometime between 5 and 7 a.m. the second crash happened.
“My wife was heading out for an appointment. Only seconds later, she got to the end of our driveway, stopped and pulled over in our car to phone me. ‘There’s another car in the ditch,” she said. I ran outside to see what was going on, looked over our large wall, and saw a red Volkswagen.”
The driver was absent from the upturned vehicle.
“When the Honda Civic crashed (Friday night) it took out the light pole and its concrete post, so that was all cleared away by the crews. But this second crash (Saturday morning), in the exact same area, went further into the marshland because there was nothing to stop it. The car rolled quite a distance into the bush,” said Arsenault.
“Just as the fire trucks, Island EMS, and everything was arriving at the scene, we were searching the area of long grass and between the trees, just in case someone had gotten out of the car and were disorientated,” he added while acknowledging no one was located in the area.
Arsenault questioned the odds of something like this happening.
“It’s bizarre and a little upsetting that two cars were wrecked in the same area only hours apart. My wife and I are really concerned with distracted driving. It seems everyone involved is okay, and hopefully if this was the result of distracted driving they learned their lessons,” he said.
The Journal Pioneer reached out to the Prince County RCMP and was informed the "investigation is still ongoing."
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