'Extensive damage' to North Vancouver building after suspected impaired driver crash, RCMP say

The driver collided with a business, then reversed, hit a parked vehicle, and flipped her own vehicle onto its side, according to North Vancouver RCMP, who provided this photo with their release.

Mounties in North Vancouver say they believe the driver who crashed into a building on West First Street Tuesday and caused "extensive damage" was impaired.

The incident happened around 4:30 p.m. in the street's 900 block, police said in a news release Wednesday.

The driver collided with a business, then reversed, hit a parked vehicle, and flipped her own vehicle onto its side, according to North Vancouver RCMP.

"When officers arrived and spoke to the driver, who was unharmed, they noted signs of impairment," police said in their statement.

The driver – who police did not name, but described as a North Vancouver woman in her 40s – failed to provide a breath sample.

She is now facing charges of failing or refusing to provide a breath sample and a 90-day driving suspension, police said, adding that the penalties for such charges are at least as severe as those faced by someone who fails a roadside breath test.

“Sadly, each year in B.C., 64 people die in crashes involving impaired driving, according to ICBC road safety statistics,” said Const. Mansoor Sahak, in the release.

"Even one impaired driver is one too many. The risk they represent is unacceptable, and that’s why we will continue to search for them and take them off the road."

Sahak added that police are "just so glad" that no one inside the business where the crash occurred was injured.

People caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol in B.C. face what North Vancouver RCMP called "the toughest drinking and driving laws in Canada."

Possible penalties include driving prohibitions lasting from 24 hours to 90 days in length, vehicle impoundment, fines from $600 to $4,060, jail time, mandatory rehabilitation and the installation of an ignition interlock on the driver's vehicle, police said.

Those penalties are in addition to the insurance consequences, which could include the imposition of a Driver Risk Premium and liability for 100 per cent of the cost of repairing the damage caused by crashing while impaired.