A driver’s excuse for why he was going nearly twice the posted speed limit in his newly washed car didn’t hold water with Mounties in Metro Vancouver. The Coquitlam RCMP said the driver of a sedan was recently clocked at 111 km/h in a 60 km/h zone, prompting officers to pull the vehicle over for excessive speeding. “The driver explained they had just washed their car and were attempting to blow the water droplets off,” a social media post from the detachment said, adding that there is “no excuse” for “putting everyone in danger.” Excessive speeding is defined as going 40 km/h or more over the posted limit. Fines range from $368 to $483, and vehicles can be impounded for seven days for a first offence and 30 days for a second offence within a two-year period. According to ICBC, speed is the “leading contributor to fatal crashes” on the province’s roads. It is a factor in more than 2,400 crashes and 91 fatalities—on average—per year, the insurer’s website says, indicated those figures are based on annual data from 2019 to 2023.
