Driver blames ‘Jesus sign’ after Highway 3 collision

A religious billboard led to a highway collision in the West Kootenay Tuesday, Oct. 12, according to Mounties.

Grand Forks RCMP said no one was hurt when, at around 3:15 p.m., a late model Subaru SUV came into collision with a trailer hauled by a second SUV making a right-hand turn from the eastbound lane of Highway 3 onto a side-road roughly two kilometres west of the city.

Speaking to Mounties and The Gazette at the scene, the Subaru driver said she was distracted by a “Jesus sign” prominently displayed around 20 metres west of the intersection, near the bottom of a slope on the highway colloquially known as Spencer Hill.

The sign bears five lines of block text quoted from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans (Romans 6:23): “For the wages of sin is death; But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The sign quotes a verse from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Photo: Laurie Tritschler

Grand Forks RCMP said the driver of the second SUV, an area resident, had deployed his fully-functioning right-hand turn signal before the collision. The trailer was knocked on its side and later towed to the driver’s property.

Mounties did not issue any charges under the Motor Vehicle Act, having left the Crown insurer ICBC to deal with the collision.

@ltritsch1
laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.