Novice drivers, take note: next time you hear a funny noise coming from your tire, do not speed to get home.
A North Okanagan Traffic Services officer patrolling 25th Avenue near 39th Street Saturday night at 9:30 p.m. noticed a westbound red 2003 Ford Focus on 25th Avenue doing well in excess of the posted 50-kilometre-an-hour speed limit.
In fact, the police officer’s radar clocked the car at 124 kilometres an hour, 74 kilometres an hour over the posted limit.
“The officer stopped the driver, who was not displaying his N as required, and the driver told the officer the reason he was speeding was due to an odd tire noise he could hear,” said Gord Molendyk, spokesperson for the Vernon RCMP.
“Most people stop and look and see if they could find out what the noise is.”
The officer observed that the car’s front tires were bald, well beyond their wear bars.
The driver, 27, was given a $463 ticket for excessive speed, another $109 fine for not displaying his N and was given a notice and order to have the front tires replaced.
As the vehicle was in the process of being impounded by the tow company, the tow truck driver noticed that the car’s front right coil spring was broken, and that the spring was laying against the inner side wall of the front tire and had started cutting a groove into the tire.
“There was a high risk of that front tire blowing out, especially at the speed he was travelling,” said Molendyk, who noted that the driver has a few repairs to make before his car can be returned to the road.
The violations may also affect the driver’s ability to soon have his novice designation lifted.
