The 20-year-old trying to impress his friends with stunt driving on Cypress Bowl Road wound up sending three people to hospital, and doing $50,000 in damages to two luxury vehicles Wednesday afternoon.
Police were called to the first switchback around 3 p.m. after reports of a crash. There, they found a 2018 BMW 440i and Mercedes GLC300 SUV, both heavily damaged.
The driver of the BMW, who still had a learner’s permit, told investigators that he’d been attempting to “drift” the hot car – steering it into a controlled skid sideways through a turn with the front wheels pointed in the opposite direction.
At estimated speeds of 120 to 140 kilometres per hour in the hairpin turn, he lost control almost immediately and slid across oncoming lanes of traffic, into a rock face and then the parked SUV.
The driver and his two friends in the car were taken to Lions Gate Hospital with minor injuries.
“They were bumps and bruises, according to the officer that attended, and they were non-life threatening,” said Const. Kevin Goodmurphy, West Vancouver police spokesman. “They're very lucky that that's all it was given the impact and the speeds they were travelling.”
The stunt driving earned the 20-year-old a $368 ticket for driving without due care and attention. The Bimmer is a writeoff, Goodmurphy said, so in addition to the fine, the driver will have to explain the situation to the car’s registered owner.
Because of its tight turns and straightaways, Cypress Bowl Road tends to attract drivers looking for trouble, but it can be very dangerous, Goodmurphy said.
On Christmas Day in 2019, Vancouver cyclist Ivan Young was killed on the road after a collision with a driver.
