Four young Abbotsford women narrowly escaped injury late Saturday when a suspected drunk driver slammed into their car, which was stopped at an impaired-driving roadblock.

The crash also sent five Abbotsford police officers scrambling for safety, said Const. Ian MacDonald.

The incident began after the five-member team of officers had checked about 140 cars at the roadblock at Riverside Road just north of King Road.

Officers were just about to send four seatbelt-wearing women in a 2008 Volvo on their way when officers noticed headlights approaching at an estimated speed of 100 kilometres an hour.

Seconds later a 1992 Toyota Four Runner smashed into the rear end of the women's Volvo.

"This has the net effect of launching the Volvo 50 metres southbound and our five members scrambling to get out of the way of this truck," said MacDonald.

He called it "remarkable" that no one was injured.

"The back end of the Volvo was very crumpled. I would say the back end absorbed most of the blow," he said. "The four young women from Abbotsford were quite shaken."

The 25-year-old in the Toyota was taken into custody.

"He wasn't showing any signs of injury and it was visibly evident that we were dealing with someone who was likely impaired," MacDonald said.

He said people often slow down or attempt U-turns while approaching a police roadblock, but in this case there was no attempt to brake before colliding with the other car.

"It was a narrow miss," said MacDonald. "It could have gone wrong. This is why we do impaired-driving checks."

The 25-year-old Abbotsford man is facing charges of impaired driving.

– The Province