Fatal parking lot crash involving modified truck leads to RCMP warning

RCMP are warning drivers with modified vehicles to check they're within legal limits, after a dangerous driving charge was laid against a Nanaimo, B.C., woman following a fatal parking lot crash.

On Tuesday, Nanaimo RCMP said they had charged a 24-year-old woman with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, after an 85-year-old woman was killed following a crash on March 21, 2024.

Police say the crash, in the Woodgrove Centre parking lot, came about after the senior parked her vehicle next to the woman's pickup truck and began walking toward the mall.

The suspect in the case then exited her parking spot and turned left with her pickup truck, and the senior was knocked to the ground and subsequently died.

Police say the modifications made to the truck, including a raised suspension, oversized tires and tinted windows contributed to the fatal crash.

They say the modifications made driving in the crowded parking lot unsafe, and weren't part of the original truck design.

"The charge of Dangerous Operation Causing Death is a serious one," Nanaimo RCMP wrote in a statement.

"It signifies that the person operating a vehicle, considering all the circumstances, poses a significant danger to the public."

Const. Sherri Wade with Nanaimo RCMP said the pickup truck was taken for inspection after the crash, and police determined the modifications weren't within legal limits.

"You can certainly make modifications, the Motor Vehicle Regulations make it so that you are allowed to have modifications," she told Jason D'Souza, host of CBC's All Points West. "They just give you pretty specific instructions."

LISTEN | Vehicle modifications were considered to be a factor in the fatal crash

All Points West4:23Truck modifications allegedly contributed to parking-lot death, according to Nanaimo RCMP

A Nanaimo woman faces a charge of dangerous operation causing death after a collision in a Nanaimo parking lot killed an 85-year-old woman. Nanaimo RCMP Const. Sherri Wade explains how suspension lift and other modifications contributed to the charge, and shares information on what modifications are legal.

Wade says that a vehicle's suspension height cannot be altered by more than 10 centimetres, and any tint on the windshield cannot be lower than 75 millimetres below the top.

The officer says that if police find that vehicle modifications aren't within legal limits, drivers could be ticketed or their vehicles towed, and the owner must then pay the towing fees and modify it as per regulations.