30 cars damaged, arrest made in bizarre Pattullo Bridge crash

Around 30 vehicles were damaged after a woman drove her car down the centre lane of a busy commuter bridge outside Vancouver on Aug. 6, 2015. (CTV)

An accident on the Pattullo Bridge that damaged about 30 vehicles appears to have been deliberately caused – and could have been much worse.

Witnesses say a woman behind the wheel of a burgundy-coloured sedan drove right up the centre lane of the bridge, plowing down dozens of pylons in the process.

Motorists in both directions frantically swerved to avoid the vehicles, but dozens of drivers simply couldn’t.

“She just wanted to overtake and she just slammed through the poles,” a witness told CTV Vancouver.

Surrey RCMP say around 30 vehicles sustained damage and that number could have been much higher had the driver, who was travelling at around 50 kilometres an hour, not crashed into a concrete divider.

Witnesses said the woman was laughing when she ran from her vehicle, but was quickly taken into custody for impaired driving by New Westminster Police.

Officers collected a breathalyzer sample at the detachment and say an impaired driving probe has been launched, and charges are possible.

Incredibly, no one was seriously injured in the incident, which left many drivers feeling shaken.

“I thought she was going to hit me head on,” one driver said.

The bridge was closed for several hours as police investigated.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Sarah MacDonald and Tom Popyk