Two 18-year-old males are facing charges of dangerous driving while street racing in connection with a two-vehicle collision at Railway Avenue and Battleford Road Thursday morning.
Two vehicles were heading east on Railway, traveling at a high speed, and one car collided with a westbound truck turning onto Battleford Road. The car rolled, landing on its roof in the southeast ditch.
No serious injuries were sustained.
The accident occurred at approximately 11 a.m. A traffic detour was set up for several hours while RCMP investigated the incident. A traffic reconstructionalist was on site to measure skid marks and determine exactly what happened. The incident was also captured on video.
RCMP believe the accident was a result of street racing.
"It's not something we commonly see [in the Battlefords], but I'm certainly not going to say it's not a problem," said Cpl. Jason Teniuk with the Battlefords RCMP.
"Any time you get street racing and it ends up with an accident like this, it's a problem."
RCMP do have the option in situations like this - two vehicles street racing - of issuing a $175 traffic ticket but in this case, criminal charges were laid.
"Based on the gravity of the incident, we didn't feel that was appropriate," Teniuk said.
"We decided to go criminal with this because of the accident with the person uninvolved in the event."
Typically, a dangerous driving while street racing charge is treated as a summary offence, Teniuk said, which means if convicted, the two accused could lose their driver's licences for six months to a year, and they will have criminal records.
Teniuk said street racing probably happens more often than the RCMP know.
"As an example, for every 10 drunk drivers, we probably catch one, and it's probably along those lines for this as well," he said.
Street racing tends to be more of an issue in the spring, he added - people tend to drive carefully during the winter months, but when the weather warms up, spring fever infects motorists.
"It seems as soon as there's no snow, and you can step on the gas and get some traction, it starts to be a problem," he said.
The two individuals charged in relation to Thursday's accident have been released from custody under the condition they not operate a motor vehicle until their first court appearance May 16.
RCMP are not releasing the names of the accused.
Donavin Night was pumping fuel at Fas Gas when the accident occurred.
"I noticed the car exhaust of the kid's car. It was revved up real high. I looked up just to see what was going on," he said.
"They were racing. I saw those two cars lined up side by side."
Cindy Noble was working at McDonalds at the time of the accident.
"I looked outside and there was this car in the ditch," she said.
"It gives you a fright. It makes your heart stop because you don't want to see anyone hurt."
