Tributes are pouring in for a Vancouver taxi driver killed in a collision with a suspected drunk driver early Sunday morning.
Sanehpal Singh Randhawa, 28, died after his Yellow Cab was struck by a Car2Go vehicle in the intersection of East 1st Avenue and Renfrew Street.
Police are investigating speed and impairment as contributing factors, and say the Car2Go may have run a red light.
On the phone from Brampton, Randhawa’s childhood friend Harman Randhawa could barely hold back tears.
“We came here together, we studied together and we lived together,” he said. “I don’t even have the courage to call his mom.”
Harman said the two had come to Canada years ago on the same flight before Sanehpal moved to Calgary and then Vancouver.
“We came here for a better life, and we never expected this. When he stepped in the plane we never thought, like, you’ll never see 2020,” he said.
He described Sanehpal as driven, and deeply focused on work, pulling shifts at the taxi company and driving a Loomis truck.
All that work had paid off, and Sanehpal had just put a down payment on a house, Harman said.
“We used to stay hungry for a couple of days when we had no money to eat,” he said of the hard times during the pair’s early years in Canada.
“And when we started to get the good life, he’s not here to live it, that’s the sad part.”
Kulwant Sahota, president of Yellow Cab, said the tight-knit community of drivers is still reeling over the crash.
“He’s an excellent driver, never had an issue, we’re so sad. I’ve had drivers, owners, everybody has been calling me since the morning,” he said.
“We’re grieving.”
Keeping impaired car share drivers off the road
Vancouver criminal lawyer Kyla Lee says there is an argument to be made that it is too easy for car share members to get behind the wheel when they’re impaired.
In order to sign up for a car share service, members currently need to provide a driver’s abstract and fill out a contract and user agreement.
“Because no steps are being taken to ensure that these people understand the document they’re signing and understand their obligations, it raises real concerns in my mind about whether or not these companies should be liable when they make it possible for impaired drivers to get behind the wheel,” she said.
Lee proposed that if companies such as Car2Go want to absolutely ensure no drunk driver ever gets behind the wheel, they should consider installing ignition interlock systems that prevent the vehicle from operating without a clean breath sample.
Alternately, she said, companies could look at requiring clients to provide an update on their driving record every year in order to renew their account.
Lee added that if a driver is found to be impaired in a crash, their insurance coverage would likely be denied, leaving them in debt to ICBC and unable to renew their licence.
For its part, Car2Go says it has a zero tolerance policy towards impaired driving, and that it is working with police.
“If any customer is found to have been driving one of our vehicles under the influence, that customer will be permanently banned from our service,” said a spokesperson in an email.
The Car2Go driver, a man in his 20s, remains in hospital in serious condition, while the taxi’s two passengers were treated for non-life threatening injuries.
The Independent Invesgitation Office, (IIO) is also looking at the case, as police believe the driver may have evaded officers at an impaired driving road check prior to the collision.
At this point, the IIO says it is “focused on determining if police action was involved in this matter.”
Harman Randhawa says he will be flying in to Vancouver to meet with Sanehpal’s family when they arrive from India and Australia.
In the meantime, he has a message for anyone thinking of getting behind the wheel after a few drinks.
“Please, please don’t drink and drive. You never know who’s in the next car if you hit somebody,” he said.
“It’s not just about losing a licence, it’s about a life.”