---
title: "Watch This Inattentive Driver Soar Over an Intersection and Smash Into a Pole"
description: "Fly like an eagle, let my spirit carry me."
date: "2017-09-07"
modified: "2017-09-07"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/14144/watch-this-inattentive-driver-soar-over-an-intersection-and-smash-into-a-pole"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Accident"
  - "Canada"
  - "Dash Cam"
  - "distracted driving"
---

# Watch This Inattentive Driver Soar Over an Intersection and Smash Into a Pole

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/09/crash-1.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Dash cam crash videos [are a dime a dozen](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/14120/watch-this-russian-armored-transport-drift-into-a-skoda>) these days. What's rarer is the [*rear* dash cam view,](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/13421/watch-a-street-racing-infiniti-g37-push-a-bmw-underneath-a-semi-truck>) providing us with the opportunity to watch horrible drivers get their comeuppance from an entirely different angle. Today's example comes from Canada, where a careless driver and a well-placed drainage ditch combined to create some impressive aerial acrobatics on Tuesday.

User slickshaft uploaded the remarkable clip [to YouTube,](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpHMnBI3ETA>) writing in the video description that the crash occurred in Ontario on Tuesday. He noticed the driver swerving and failing to maintain a constant speed in his rear view mirror, and kept and eye on him until the inevitable happened. After several close calls, the Honda Accord finally veered off the right side of the road, driving along the edge of a drainage ditch before hitting the end like a ramp and sailing over a four-lane intersection—straight into a pole.

According to the Ottowa Citizen, paramedics responded and took 54-year-old Richard Poirier to the hospital for minor injuries. The police weren't as benevolent, charging him with careless driving. Chances are he would have immediately been slapped with a DUI charge as well if drugs or alcohol were involved, so we're left to assume this is one more case of [distracted driving](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/13597/blame-drivers-not-phones-for-distracted-driving-says-apple>) gone awry.

https://youtube.com/embed/KpHMnBI3ETA

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)