Neither of the teens in last week’s dramatic car crash into a Gordon Head house had a driver’s licence, said Saanich Police.
Two 16-year-old girls from the Greater Victoria area face charges of driving without a licence and failing to remain at the scene of last Wednesday’s 3 a.m. crash, which saw a Hyundai Accent plow through two fences before colliding with a house in the 1500 block of Kenmore Road.
According to Sgt. Steve Eassie, the vehicle belonged to the family of the driver and was taken without permission from her parents.
“They had gone out driving for some time and ended up with a flat tire,” he said. “They continued to drive on the flat tire, which ultimately led to the vehicle shredding the rubber on the tire and eventually went down to the rim, which caused the vehicle to lose control on a corner.”
Eassie said police believe the flat tire caused the teens to lose control of the vehicle, adding that there was no indication of drugs or alcohol in the accident.
It’s unclear how fast the vehicle was travelling when it hit the house, but the impact of the crash caused a blackout in the local area, prompting a response from B.C. Hydro.
While police didn’t have an estimate of the cost of the damages, they expect it to be high. The crash compromised the structural integrity of the house, to the point that emergency crews decided to leave the car in place until Wednesday night for fear that removing it would cause more damage.
“(The homeowners) were advised that they would likely be out of the home for upwards of a month, so I would presume that the structural engineers and those involved in the repair of the home have deemed it unsafe for somebody to be residing there,” said Eassie, noting he hasn’t heard of any legal action being taken yet.