Charges are pending against a 67-year-old Squamish man after he was caught shoplifting from a Whistler business earlier this month.
According to a release, Whistler RCMP were first notified of a theft from a store located in the 2000 block of Lake Placid Road on Wednesday, May 6 at around 6:20 p.m.
The suspect had fled with "several hundred dollars" worth of product before getting into a vehicle and driving south on Highway 99, said police.
Whistler RCMP notified their Squamish counterparts about the direction of the vehicle and advised their fellow officers to be on the lookout for it. Squamish RCMP managed to located the vehicle and take the driver into custody and recover "some of the items" that were reported stolen, police stated in the release. The suspect has been released, pending charge approval.
BMW impounded
Whistler RCMP caught a driver travelling at 147 kilometres per hour in a 90 km/h zone on Saturday morning, May 9. In another instance of Sea to Sky cooperation, Squamish RCMP informed Whistler police about "a group of high[-]end vehicles" travelling northbound on Highway 99, well in "excess of the speed limit" at around 8:30 a.m. last Saturday, according to the release.
Whistler Traffic RCMP set up shop to await the group, and after "a short time," observed the lead vehicle in the group driving 147 km/h, 57 km/h faster than the posted speed limit.
Whistler police subsequently stopped the driver and issued a 29-year-old man from Surrey with a violation ticket for excessive speeding. His vehicle, a 2019 BMW 850, was immediately impounded for seven days.
"ICBC reports that speeding continues to be the number one cause of car crash fatalities in B.C.," police wrote in the release, adding that maintaining safety on local roadways continues to be a substantial focus for Whistler RCMP.
"We are committed to taking a zero[-]tolerance approach to those drivers out there who chose to risk their safety and the safety of others on our roadways."
To that end, ICBC has launched a campaign against speeding that began on May 4 and is set to run throughout the month. ICBC is calling it "The Speed Campaign" and promoting the effort with the hashtag #noneedforspeed.
"With fewer vehicles on the road right now, it may be tempting to speed. Yet speeding increases the risk of crashing by reducing the amount of time to react to other cars, cyclists and pedestrians, and unnecessarily tying up our first responders," explained the insurance provider in a release.
The Speed Campaign is urging the motorists who have to drive during these times to always choose a safe speed when doing so.
Head to icbc.com/road-safety/crashes-happen/Pages/Speed.aspx for more information about risks and potential consequences of speeding.
Driver escapes with minor injuries in tractor trailer rollover
A driver suffered minor injuries after the tractor trailer he was driving rolled over on Lillooet Lake Road last week. Pemberton RCMP responded to a report of an overturned tractor trailer in the 400 block of Lillooet Lake Road at around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9, police explained in the release.
Police found that the driver of the tractor trailer unit "failed to negotiate" a 90-degree turn, prompting the truck to roll onto its left side and the load of wood chips it was carrying to spill across the roadway. The driver managed to safely exit the vehicle on his own and appeared to suffer only minor injuries, according to the release. It took crews "several hours" to clear the tractor trailer and its load from the roadway, following which Lillooet Lake Road was fully re-opened to motorists.
