UPDATE: Bloodied driver drags himself up bank after sliding off Westside Road

WEST KELOWNA – An injured man crawled up a steep bank after losing traction and driving his car off a bank on Westside Road today.

North Westside Fire Rescue arrived on scene late this morning, Dec. 2, to find a bloodied man on the shoulder of the 6800 block of Westside Road.

Deputy fire chief Brian Findlay says ice may be to blame.

“The conditions were very bad, very slippery,” he says. “That section between La Casa and Fintry is a very bad piece because there’s nothing at the edge.”

Findlay says the man, who was clearly injured, extricated himself from the overturned car and crawled the embankment about 300 feet to the road.

“It was quite a distance,” he says. “There was blood involved. I’m sure he has injuries that he’s going to feel tomorrow.”

Drive B.C. says the road along Okanagan Lake was closed in both directions between Bear Creek Provincial Park and Fintry Provincial Park but it has since reopened.

Snow this morning had been making roads and highways in the Okanagan slippery all morning.

For the latest on road conditions and closures go to DriveBC.ca.

— This story was updated at 3:45 p.m. Dec. 2 to include information from North Westside Fire Rescue.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw or call 250-718-0428 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.