The driver of a Ferrari that was impounded earlier this week after police clocked him going 210 km/h over the Lions Gate Bridge better hope his Compass Card is topped up.
The Superintendent of Motor Vehicles has extended the car’s impound time to 60 days, up from the initial seven days.
During the early hours of Tuesday morning, a police officer at the north end of the bridge pulled over the white 2015 Ferrari 458, valued at around $250,000, which police say was travelling at 210 km/h.
The posted speed limit on the Lions Gate Bridge is 60 km/h.
The vehicle was impounded, and the 22-year-old driver, an unnamed West Vancouver resident, was handed a notice to appear in court in September on charges of excessive speeding and driving without due care and attention under the Motor Vehicle Act.
The car is being stored at Mitchell’s Towing in North Vancouver, but the arrival of the luxury car at the impound lot was no great shock to company owner Mitchell Martin.
“We’ve had a running joke for a while now called Ferrari Friday,” Martin said. “It’s not unusual to have a Ferrari in our facility, for sure. We have Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Bentleys … but it is unusual to see an individual with repeat offences – that many, in that particular car.”
Martin, who has owned the towing company for about 15 years, has many stories of luxury vehicles gracing his lot, including a time two years ago when the company impounded eight Porches that were pulled over by West Vancouver police for excessive speeding on the highway.
But with an average vehicle impound fee in B.C. of just $23 per day, he wasn’t confident that impoundment alone would deter luxury vehicle speedsters.
“The reality is when you have this kind of wealth … taking the car is more of a deterrent than the actual cost of the fine itself,” he said.
He noted that in other parts of the country, such as Toronto, the impound fees could be as high as $80 per day.
According to a release from the West Vancouver police, the department is also planning to provide additional reports to the superintendent, which will be reviewed to determine if the driver should receive a driving prohibition.
This wasn’t the driver’s first time being pulled over for speeding, either.
The same officer stopped the same driver for excessive speeding in the same Ferrari on the Lions Gate Bridge back in April. He was clocked then at 130 km/h.
Prior to this week’s incident, the driver had been handed three tickets for excessive speeding, which is defined as driving 40 km/h or more over the posted speed limit.
“At that speed it would take so little for anything else to happen unexpectedly or go wrong for that driver for it to be just a terribly catastrophic outcome,” said Const. Jeff Palmer, spokesman for the West Vancouver Police Department.
The department has impounded 95 vehicles for excessive speed so far in 2017.
The release also stated that if the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles orders a driving prohibition, it would be separate from potential penalties the driver could face when he appears in court in September.
with files from Jane Seyd
