One man is dead after his car veered off a Burnaby road, slammed into a utility pole and tore in half early Saturday afternoon.
The Burnaby RCMP were called to the stretch of Canada Way near Rugby Street at around 12:45 p.m. Saturday to find part of the car wrapped around the pole and other parts of the car - a stereo, bumper and other mangled car pieces - strewn across the four-lane road.
The man, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Rob Lemon said the man's car was headed westbound on Canada Way before it veered through two eastbound lanes and into the pole.
The portion of Canada Way between Burris and Kensington was closed to traffic for several hours on Saturday as investigators marked off heavy skid marks with pylons and collected evidence from the road to determine the cause of the single-vehicle crash.
Burnaby resident Manuel Borlinha said he was sitting in his house just off Canada Way early Saturday afternoon when he heard the car slam into the pole.
"I knew exactly what it was when I heard it," Borlinha said, adding that he's seen dozens of crashes on the highway in the last 40 years. "But I haven't seen too many like this."
The stretch of Canada Way between Burris Street and Kensington Avenue - which, when headed west, takes a sharp left turn before heading downhill - is well used because it leads to the entrance for the Trans-Canada Highway.
