BC N driver with air gun in his glove box clocked going 223 km/h: RCMP

sockagphoto/Shutterstock

A N driver was clocked by RCMP driving double the speed limit along the Highway 97 C Okanagan connector earlier this week.

As snow fell for the first time this season on elevated highway passes, a Mountie was conducting stationary speed enforcement when they saw a vehicle driving eastbound heading towards Kelowna from Vancouver.

Constable James Ward with the BC Highway Patrol said the officer near the Pennask Summit deployed his laser and found that the vehicle was moving at 223 km/h.

The posted speed limit is 110 km/h speed limit.

Ward says the officer at the scene was able to flag the vehicle over and found a young Class 7 N driver around 21 years old.

The driver, who is a Kelowna resident, was asked to hand over his licence and vehicle registration but when he opened the glove box, an air gun fell out.

“Of course, that made it a little tense for everybody,” Ward said.

“The officer was able to retrieve the weapon without any incident and determined it was an air-soft pistol.”

You might also like:

A $483 ticket for excessive speed and a $109 fine for failing to display the N sign was issued to the driver.

The young man was not charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle because there were no other vehicles on the road at the time, Ward explained.

The vehicle was also impounded for seven days because the driver was travelling more than 41 km/h over the posted speed limit.

“The air-soft pistol was legal. Just not smart to store one like that in your glove box,” Ward adds. “There’s no criminal charges… [or] investigation.”

Ward says while the road was clear of snow, the freezing temperatures still made for dangerous road conditions.

“Even though the road looks clear and dry, especially in the mountains out here, when you go on Highway 97 C of the Coquihalla, you turn a corner under shade from a mountain, there could be black ice,” he explains.

Drivers have been advised by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to adjust their driving to the road conditions.

“If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance,” ECCC adds. “Weather in the mountains can change suddenly, resulting in hazardous driving conditions.”

“Here are some of the really higher elevations,” Ward said. “It’s really unpredictable, especially in the mountains, because you’ll be driving along and it’ll be 15 degrees and sunny. You literally turn a corner and they’ll be two inches of snow and ice.

“It’s extremely unpredictable because he might not realize that you’re raising elevation while you’re driving on the highway. But you could have gone up an extra 1,000 metres in elevation. Without even realizing it, now you’re in the frost zone.”

Ward says his best advice is to obey all the speed signs.

“They’re there for a reason,” he says. “They’re not to slow you down or waste your time and ruin your day. Somebody has actually done the math and calculated the safest speed for vehicles to travel, generally in the best-case weather conditions. So I’d suggest going a little slower than the posted line speed limits in inclement weather.”