Hydroplaning on highway put family in danger

VERNON – Seat belts helped a pregnant woman and her family evade serious injury in a car accident over the weekend.

Around 3:30 p.m. Saturday, a northbound Toyota Celica began to hydroplane on Highway 97 near Bailey Road. The driver lost control and drifted sideways into the south bound lane where he struck a Toyota Tacoma.

“The truck hit the car just behind the rear wheels and the impact sheared the back end of the car off,” RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. “According to the officer I spoke to… you could look right into the vehicle, literally sheared it off.”

The three people in the Tacoma—a Vernon man, his pregnant wife, and their two-year-old—were sent to hospital for examination but are reportedly doing fine.

The lone driver of the car, a 58-year-old man from Vernon, was also wearing his seat belt and sustained no major injuries.

Possible charges of inadequate tires, driving without due care and attention, and driving too fast for the road conditions are being considered for the driver of the Celica.

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