Victoria and Saanich police are issuing a stern public warning after three drunk drivers fled crash scenes this week, in two cases leaving passengers behind.

The first crash occurred at the intersection of Selkirk and Coventry avenues in Esquimalt around 10 p.m. on Wednesday night.

A Lincoln sedan crashed into two parked cars and the driver and passenger quickly fled, leaving the vehicle to coast down the street with two female passengers inside. Police are looking an 18-year-old Saanich man in connection to the case.

Early Thursday morning, a Nissan Maxima crashed into a pole in the 500-block of Burnside Rd.

Witnesses saw two women leaving the scene around 2:30 a.m.

The women were then tracked by a K-9 unit to Douglas Street and Frances Avenue. A 25-year-old woman was issued a 30-day driving ban and a ticket for leaving the scene of a collision.

The third incident took place on Tuesday morning, when the driver of a Nissan pickup truck slammed into a tree in the 1700-block of Rockland Ave.

The 18-year-old passenger was sent to hospital after she was found pinned inside the wreckage and suffered several broken bones. The driver fled the scene and was found in the bushes nearby.

"These situations could have been much worse, they could have been fatal," said VicPD spokesman Mike Tucker. "That's the risk people take when they drive drunk."

dpalmer@vicnews.com