Impairment a factor in Predator Ridge death

By Charlotte Helston

Alcohol has been deemed a factor in a fatal golf cart crash at Vernon's Predator Ridge Golf Course last summer.

Glenn Daniel Thordarson, 52, was on a three-day golf retreat with colleagues on June 7, 2012. He was visiting from Edmonton. After breaking for lunch, the group returned to the course, and Thordarson got behind the wheel. On an uphill slope, Thordarson hit a rock face, lost control of the vehicle, and tumbled off a seven-metre-high embankment onto an asphalt roadway below. A witness reports seeing the occupants conscious and shouting as they went over the edge. Thordarson and his passenger were thrown to the turf. The passenger survived the crash, while Thordarson did not. 

Coroner Andrew Cave says a toxicological examination revealed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.19 per cent.

"This level is considered to be a moderate to heavy level of intoxication…. Impairment with ethyl alcohol was a contributory factor," Cave said in his report.

The cart was newly purchased by Predator Ridge, with just 16.2 hours on it prior to the accident.

"No mechanical reason could be found to account for loss of control," Cave said. 

Cave said a fractured skull and collapsed lung were the immediate causes of death, with the crash and impairment acting as contributing conditions.

Cave classified the death as accidental and made no recommendations.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call (250)309-5230.