The mystery of a falling rock that struck Brian PrestonB次元官网网址檚 car has since bemused the Gordon Head resident.
Preston and his family were driving the family minivan northbound through a construction zone on the Malahat on the way to Mount Washington on Feb. 8 when the rock bounced off the road and lodged into the front of the car.
In a rudimentary assessment of the area the rock came from, Preston deduced it wasnB次元官网网址檛 a high enough hill for a rock to come tumbling down with enough force to behave the way it did.
B次元官网网址淭he rock fell with quite a force as it bounced up off the highway, up into the air, and came back down before lodging into the headlight,B次元官网网址 Preston said. B次元官网网址淵ou donB次元官网网址檛 often see a rock that size bounce like that.B次元官网网址
Preston and his family were in B次元官网网址榮hockB次元官网网址 and drove about a half mile to the Malalat Inn before pulling over. That was really the first safe place to do so, he said. He registered the incident with the RCMP Shawnigan Lake detachment and the family carried on.
The rock is about the size of a softball and looks to be a sedimentary type of conglomerate with smaller rocks embedded in it.
B次元官网网址淚t could easily have killed somebody if it bounced a bit higher on the car,B次元官网网址 Preston said.
His initial though is it might have come from a blast.
B次元官网网址淚 contacted Emil Anderson Construction and explained it as a piece of concrete, and they told me there is no concrete at the site,B次元官网网址 Preston said.
The Ministry of Transportation said any blasting along the Malahat safety improvement project generally occurs daily between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. However, the highway is fully closed during the blasts to ensure safety, so a passing vehicle could not be hit by flying rock related to blasting activity.
Preston calls it a mystery because there was no oncoming trucks or cars at the time the rock came bouncing at them. He didnB次元官网网址檛 initially believe it was the work of mischief, as it happened in a construction zone, but heB次元官网网址檚 now open to any reasonable explanation.
Regardless, Preston is left wondering if it was in fact a result of some ill timed or intended mischief, or if it was a construction mishap.