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Drunk driver collides with utility pole

Collision closed Hwy. 97 temporarily
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A drunk driver who managed to find a way around the impaired driving interlock device on his vehicle caused Hwy. 97 in Osoyoos to close for a few hours last night after he collided with a utility pole.

Osoyoos RCMP report they were called to the scene of a single vehicle collision on Hwy. 97, just north of 62nd St. at 5:10 p.m. on Feb. 14.

A witness on scene reported seeing the vehicle, a 2007 Chevrolet LS, travelling southbound at a high rate of speed, lose control and go off road into a utility pole.

The utility pole was severed at its base and was leaning over the vehicle, but it remained suspended in the air, held up by the utility lines.

The highway was closed to traffic in both directions because of the danger the suspended pole presented to both emergency service personnel and public passing by. The highway reopened about 8 p.m. after the pole was secured.

Despite the vehicle being equipped with an impaired driving interlock device, the driver and sole occupant, a 47-year-old Osoyoos resident, displayed significantly impaired symptoms and was taken to hospital for assessment before being released to the RCMP.

He later provided breath samples showing a blood alcohol concentration 2 ½ times over the legal limit. Area commander Sgt. Jason Bayda said this is not the driver’s first impaired driving incident and he now faces another criminal code impaired driving charge.


Steve Kidd

Senior reporter, Penticton Western News

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