**WARNING, THIS STORY CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE**
In a twist of irony, an orange Ford Mustang with bumper stickers that are seemingly taunting the police smashed into a tree in Oak Bay in the early morning hours on Thursday.
“Yes officer, I did see the speed limit sign, I just didn’t see you,” reads the bumper sticker of a car that was clocked travelling at 73 kilometres per hour by stationary radar.
The 20-year-old female novice (‘N’) driver had three passengers in her vehicle when she crashed into a tree on Beach Drive at approximately 12:45 a.m.
“Sometimes a few photos can tell the whole story,” reads a tweet from the Oak Bay Police, showing a photo of the crash and two of the vehicle’s bumper stickers.
A sticker on the windshield reads, “Speed hunter” and another profanity-laden bumper sticker states, “Street racing is not a crime… Well, it is but f*** it.”
12:45am on Beach Dr in #OakBay. Another "N" driver with 3 passengers. Fortunately, nobody died. One injured & taken in ambulance. Driver rec'd 5 traffic tickets & we're consulting with Crown regarding a potential criminal charge. Sometimes a few photos can tell the whole story. pic.twitter.com/WoUDwHyQtF
— Oak Bay Police (@OakBayPolice) June 18, 2020
“Due to the high volume of speeders along that stretch we have stepped up our enforcement there,” said the Oak Bay Police. “The car sped by and collided with the tree a few hundred meters later.”
Fortunately, no one was killed, but one person was taken to hospital in an ambulance with a possible vertebrae injury. This person was later released from hospital with non-serious injuries. Police say the property damage is limited to the lawn and the tree of the residence.
Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties says the cause of the accident was most likely speed and driver inexperience. The female driver had consumed alcohol, but police said she wasn’t defined as “impaired.”
“She blew .04 [per cent BAC] which isn’t considered ‘impaired’ but is a violation of the conditions of her class 7 licence,” explained DCOP Bernoties.
The driver received five traffic tickets and the Oak Bay Police are consulting with the Crown to decide if a criminal charge should be laid.
“The stickers on this car are an indication of how immature and unaware some drivers are,” said Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties. “This driver endangered the lives of her passengers and ultimately injured one of her passengers. We sincerely hope no one has to die for these people to understand how serious this is.”
The ‘N’ driver was ticketed for speeding, driving without due care and three tickets for driving contrary to licencing restrictions, including driving with more than one person, failure to display the “N” on the back of the car, and blowing positive for alcohol.
The chief added this incident involving such a new driver is worrisome.
“This is very concerning,” said DCOP Bernoties. “We had a similar incident last week that, fortunately, didn’t result in a collision, but was excessive speeding.”
The wrecked muscle car was towed and held by police, pending an investigation.
“Although we have no evidence to suggest that our member did anything wrong, we always want to ensure there is the highest level of transparency and accountability so we notified the IIO and the OPCC. We will know shortly whether either agency wishes to investigate this further,” said the Oak Bay Police in a statement.
READ MORE: Unlicensed driver in Saanich arrested ‘minutes’ after allegedly stealing vehicle
Rebecca Lawrence
