The accident that killed a Canadian soldier and injured four others was caused when the driver of the light armoured vehicle swerved to avoid a car driving toward it without its lights on.

The vehicle, known as a LAV III, then flipped and ended upside down, claiming the life of Pte. Braun Scott Woodfield, 24, from Eastern Passage, N.S.

Woodfield was a passenger on the LAV. The driver reportedly had four years experience driving this type of armoured vehicle.

The accident occurred 45 kilometres northeast of Kandahar, near the village of Laghman.

The four injured soldiers were Sgt. Tony Nelson McIver, 31, from McAdam, N.B., Cpl. Shane Dean Jones, 30, from White Rock, B.C., Pte. Paul Schavo, 24, from London, Ont., and Cpl. James Edward McDonald, 32, from Pembroke, Ont.

McIver and McDonald have been released from hospital and are back with their unit in Kandahar. The other two men are in serious but stable condition.

During an interview with CBC Newsworld Friday, retired major general Lewis MacKenzie called the LAV III "an outstanding armoured personnel carrier" that has saved "a multitude of lives" because of the protection it offers from landmines and enemy fire in combat zones.

MacKenzie compared it to SUVs, which are more prone to rollovers than passenger cars because of a higher centre of gravity.

Documents obtained through Access to Information laws show the army was warned in May 2004 that "speed and driver inexperience" were frequent causes of rollovers involving the LAV III.

The note said it is especially prone to tipping on ground with an angle of 30 degrees or greater, and should be driven in the centre of roads in countries with poor highway systems, where edges of roads tend to be prone to breaking away under heavy weights.