Image credit: BC Highway Patrol

By Aaron Schulze

Buckle Up

WATCH: Seatbeltless driver in Williams Lake rear-ends truck, goes headfirst into windshield

Jul 25, 2025 | 10:11 AM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — Police are reminding residents to buckle their seatbelts when driving after an unbelted man went headfirst into his windshield.

Video captured by BC Highway Patrol at around 3:00 p.m. Sunday (July 20) shows the moment when an officer on Mackenzie Avenue South in Williams Lake noticed two drivers – one in a white Ford F250 and another in a grey Toyota Camry – without their seatbelts on.

The video shows the officer pulling a U-turn on the road to follow the vehicles. Shortly thereafter, the driver of the Camry rear-ended the F250.

“The BC Highway Patrol officer started by checking the driver of the Toyota Camry. His head was bleeding liberally after smashing his own windshield,” Cpl. Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol said. “The driver blew two ‘fail’ readings on an Approved Screening Device. Those readings were evidence that he was impaired by alcohol.

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The injury from the impact left the Camry driver needing stitches for his bleeding scalp, said McLaughlin.

“The sober and belted driver walked away. The allegedly impaired driver did not see the police lights, did not react to avoid the hugely obvious truck in front of him, and would have died at highway speed.”

The driver of the Camry, a 28-year-old man from Williams Lake, was fined $167 for failing to wear a seatbelt and $368 for driving without due care and attention. He had his vehicle impounded and was given a notice of driving prohibition.

Meantime, the F250 driver, a 19-year-old woman from Big Creek, was given a ticket for failing to wear her seatbelt. Police say she didn’t suffer serious injuries because she put her seatbelt back on before the collision.