A man who died in a serious collision that shut down the Malahat Highway for hours is being described as a selfless man who’d do whatever it took to help his friends.

At around 5 p.m. Thursday, Mounties received a report that two northbound vehicles collided on the highway near McCurdy Drive.

Early investigation suggests a red minivan tried to cross the highway to turn left into a residential complex – right into the path of a northbound pickup truck.

Malahat Fire Chief Rob Patterson said that after the crash, paramedics transported two patients to hospital in Victoria with unknown injuries.

On Friday, he confirmed that a man driving the minivan succumbed to his injuries following the collision.

CTV News has learned the victim was Matt Quirk, a married father some friends described as a mobile mechanic who was generous with his time.

“He’d probably come out anytime of the night to get your car started if that’s what it took,” said Ron Sykora. “If your battery charge didn’t work: ‘Here you go, take mine.’ If you broke down, he’d come help you fix it.”

Witnesses said the crash happened when Quirk was trying to cross all lanes of traffic to get to the RV park where he lives.

The manager of Malahat Mountain Meadows RV Park said he may have been trying to save time.

“I told him, I said ‘don’t be doing that, you’re going to get yourself smoked one of these days,’ and it wasn’t only a couple days ago that I told him that,” said Art Lawrence.

The crash occurred during rush hour on the same section of highway that the Ministry of Transportation will be announcing safety improvements for next week.

A concrete median is planned to be installed early next year, one that may have made Quirk’s left turn – and the crash – impossible.

The government’s plan is to add more than three kilometres of new median barriers between Shawnigan Lake Road and Aspen Road, expanding it to four lanes and upgrades to access points.

“I believe it probably would’ve saved a life. It’s hard to tell, because it wasn’t a head-on, oncoming crash,” said Patterson.

He also lamented that some of the first crews to show up to the crash were berated by motorists concerned with getting stuck in traffic.

“There was one couple in particular, quite vocal and quite perturbed, I guess would be the most polite way you could put it," he said. "A fair amount of foul language and arguing going on, and they were trying to horn their way through. We had to bring the police in to calm them down and get them diffused.”

The highway was closed for several hours from the Malahat Summit to the Bamberton exit south of Mill Bay as officials investigated. It reopened to single-lane alternating traffic just after 8 p.m.

RCMP are asking for anyone who may have witnessed the collision to call South Island Traffic Services at 250-416-0352.