A 28-year-old North Vancouver man is under investigation for drunk driving after racking up several crashes during a morning rush hour trip in the wrong direction on Mountain Highway.
Police responded to the 400-block of the thoroughfare around 8: 45 a.m. Thursday, where they found five vehicles hit by a single driver who decided to use the oncoming lane as a shortcut.
"It would seem there was quite a lot of traffic at that time and the driver, perhaps in a hurry, went into the oncoming lane to get around some traffic that was backed up at that point," said Cpl. Doug Trousdell, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. "It would appear he went into the oncoming lane and caused a series of collisions."
While it may seem odd to be making impaired driving arrests so early in the morning, it is known to happen, Trousdell said.
"We sometimes don't expect to see impaired drivers in the morning; we anticipate that kind of thing happens at night. But there are cases, perhaps like this one, where people have been up drinking and have either stayed up all night or perhaps gone to bed and gotten two hours of sleep and a coffee and thought that was sufficient to clear the alcohol from their system," he said. "That's not the case."
No one was injured in the series of collisions.
With Christmas around the corner, police are stepping up enforcement for impaired driving and other motor vehicle infractions, Trousdell said. "There will be extra police on the roads around the holidays ensuring the streets are safe for everybody coming and going from various holiday events," he said. "We are anxious to make sure everybody stays safe and makes use of designated drivers or finds other options - taxies and Operation Red Nose."
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