A photo of a pickup truck crashed into a Burnaby traffic light standard at seemingly impossible angle raised eyebrows on Reddit last week – but the photo only told part of the dramatic story.
The image, posted on Saturday, shows firefighters looking at a teal green Nissan pickup that has crashed into a traffic light standard at the intersection of Hythe Avenue and Hastings Street.
The angle of the truck makes it hard to tell where it came from.
"It's like it appeared out of thin air and hit the traffic light," said one post.
"Definitely begs the question, how?" said another.
The NOW decided to investigate.
Assistant fire Chief Derek Masaro said emergency crews were called to the scene at 10:23 a.m. for a single vehicle accident at the intersection.
When firefighters got there, they found the truck wrapped around the pole and the driver, the vehicle's only occupant, walking around nearby, according to Masaro.
He declined medical attention, Masaro said.
Based on the reports from the scene, Masaro couldn't say where the truck had come from, but he did say it wiped out an electrical kiosk before hitting the traffic light.
"If it hit the kiosk first, if it was in front, it could have done a full spin," he said.
The incident was a fairly minor one, with the fire department cancelling its rescue truck and rescue task force, according to Masaro.
But it could have been a whole lot worse, according to Burnaby RCMP, who took charge of the scene.
Police investigated the crash and found out the 1996 Nissan had been travelling down the hill on Hythe toward busy Hastings when the brakes failed, according to Burnaby RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Mike Kalanj.
To avoid entering the intersection, the driver, a 52-year-old man, purposely steered the vehicle into the direction of the kiosk and pole.
"He didn't want to go into Hastings Street and potential smash into someone," Kalanj said.
The file on the crash is still open, according to Kalanj, but so far the driver hasn't been issued any violation tickets.
As for how the vehicle ended up at the angle it did, that is still a mystery.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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