YEAR IN REVIEW: A library, a spa, Tim Hortons and more were all hit by vehicles in Kamloops this year

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – While most people will remember 2016 as the year Trump was elected or their favourite celebrity died, in Kamloops some are sure to remember it as the year a bunch of buildings were hit by vehicles.

The number of structures hit by cars seemed particularly high in the city. While ICBC won’t release numbers for all of 2016 until mid-2017, weKamloops residents appeared to be on track for a big year.

The high point was three in one day, when, on Sept. 9 an SUV hit a library, a driver with a learners permit hit a Tim Hortons and a Mark’s Work Warehouse took a vehicle through the front door. While all the buildings required repairs, no one was seriously injured.

March saw a van hit an apartment building, while an SUV was firmly planted in the middle of a dollar store.

April started off rough for the owners of Tiger Ramen, a small restaurant in Sahali, as its front was completely smashed in, sending two people to the hospital.

In July a woman lost control of her car and hit a Dominos Pizza and gas meter, meaning pizza deliveries were altered for Valleyview while repairs took place.

Sometimes accidents caused the problems, as the staff of Ardeo Spa can attest to, after a car punched through its window in August.

And while it’s not a building, another accident pushed a car over a fire hydrant, causing water to spray out of the ground in June.

While Kamloops saw the most, it appears, other city’s in the Southern Interior weren’t without. Vernon’s People Place was hit in June and Penticton’s First Choice Haircutters had to be repaired after a vehicle jumped the curb at the end of September.

While most of these sound embarrassing, the worst driver award should go to the person behind the wheel in a truck with Alberta plates. Video of the truck shows it hitting a car in an nearly empty parking lot in West Kelowna back in August.

Ouch.

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