Three vehicles were seized by Port Alberni RCMP as a result of stunt-like driving on Friday, Aug. 7.
“Most of it is mostly spinning their tires,” said RCMP inspector Mac Richards.
“It could be from a standing stop and laying a rubber streak down the roadway or it could be a brake stand, where the vehicle is stationary but the back tires are spinning.”
While Richards said that this sort of behaviour isn’t uncommon in Port Alberni, three vehicles in one weekend is higher than normal.
“You just drive around town and you see different marks on the roadway so it’s not uncommon,” said Richards.
“Three in one day is a little more than we would see in a regular day.”
Similar dangerous driving was seen last year around the same time as the Thunder in the Valley drag racing as well.
“We saw similar things at the same time last year,” said Richards.
“At least two or three years in a row we see the same thing at the same time.”
According to Richards, spinning tires is both illegal and dangerous.
“It’s obviously an offence under provincial regulations to do so,” said Richards.
“There is the potential that they could lose control of their vehicle, the environmental issues with the burning of the rubber of degradation of the asphalt.”
Though much of what’s left on the streets is just unsightly, said city of Port Alberni streets superintendent Wilf Taekema, spinning tires can damage the road surface.
“I’ve seen some areas around town where you can tell somebody’s sat there for a bit and depending on the hardness of their tires, how soft the asphalt is... they could scarify the surface of the asphalt and cause damage that way.”
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