A man is dead following a single vehicle crash on the accident-plagued Malahat Highway, on the outskirts of Victoria.

West Shore RCMP Cpl. Cory Bayda said the incident happened just before 5 a.m. PT Saturday.

"One of the maintenance crews from the Trans-Canada Highway advised us that they had seen a vehicle that went off the edge of the highway near Wellswood Road, which is north of Langford on the Malahat Highway," Bayda said.

48.507422,-123.557314Highway 1 near Wellswood Road

The car landed in a ditch, down a short 6- to 9-metre embankment, he said.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, Bayda said.

Driver identified

On Monday, the B.C. Coroners Service identified the driver as 44-year-old Ian David Slaco, of Victoria.

Matt Brown, regional coroner for the Island, said Slaco had been driving northbound over the Malahat when his car went out of control and over an embankment.

The B.C. Coroners Service and the RCMP's traffic services division are continuing to investigate his death.

Police had said alcohol was not suspected as a factor in the crash, but a toxicology analysis would be performed. An accident analyst examined the scene for most of the morning on Saturday.

In early March, the B.C. government announced the final portion of safety upgrades on the Malahat Highway were underway.

There have been, on average, 58 accidents per year on the highway, including 15 fatalities since 2000. Police, drivers and residents have long campaigned for fixes to the highways most hazardous stretches.