In what could have been a case of deadly serious irony, a collision early Friday morning on the same block as Glenlyon Norfolk school was the result, Oak Bay police believe, of a drunk driver.
The school had been host to an event Thursday that celebrated the work of police officers in helping to take intoxicated drivers off the roads.
Close to 1 a.m., a late 1990s Chrysler Concorde crashed into a parked vehicle in the 1800-block of Beach Drive. The vehicle left the scene but was found several hours later, three blocks away, with a man asleep inside.
"They saw the damage on the vehicle, all the debris on the roadway and leaked fluids leading right up to where the vehicle was parked that had cause the damage," said Oak Bay deputy chief constable Kent Thom, noting the relation to Thursday's event. "Less than 24 hours later you've got a vehicle where the driver is under the influence."
Police gave a 46-year-old Saanich man an immediate roadside prohibition and a ticket for the hit and run. The man wasn't found until a number of hours after the collision, and his blood-alcohol content was below the legal limit, so police were unable to lay a drinking and driving charge.
"But it definitely looks like alcohol was the cause of the accident," Thom said.