A B.C. Highway Patrol officer had to literally put the brakes on a speeding car after it sped past him at 125 kilometres an hour in a 90 zone.
The officer was conducting speed enforcement on Highway 19 near Nanoose Bay on Saturday when the Ford Escort went by. The driver looked stressed and was gesturing wildly with both hands off the wheel, police said.
He caught up to her and realized the problem was that the car didn’t have any brakes, so he manoeuvred his vehicle in front of hers and used it bring it safely to a stop.
After that, he determined the 33-year-old woman initially gave him a false name, was prohibited from driving and had arrest warrants. She also failed a roadside breath test and was given an immediate three-day roadside prohibition.
On top of that, the car did not belong to the woman and was uninsured, and the licence plates did not belong to the car.
Finally, neither the foot brake nor the hand brake was working and the car had reportedly gone through several red lights in Nanaimo.
The car was impounded and the woman received several violation tickets.
jbell@timescolonist.com
