Someone’s reaction to crashing a quarter million dollar sports car is going to be largely based on their annual income and their blood alcohol level. Though, I’ve never seen anyone abandon an expensive road-going missile on the roadside. This changed earlier this week.
An unattended white 2020 McLaren 600LT was found on State Route 512 near Tacoma, Washington by the Washington State Patrol. The longtail McLaren was discovered wedged under a guardrail. Photos posted to Twitter by one of the State Patrol’s public information officers show the car’s greenhouse violently split by the barrier with the lights still on and the driver’s side door open.
According to the State Patrol, the McLaren wasn’t reported stolen and was still fitted with dealership plates. The vehicle does have a registered owner in Washington, but it’s still unclear how the sports car ended up under a guardrail. The 592-horsepower McLaren could have been too much for a new owner to handle, or maybe the driver wasn’t the car’s owner.
Trooper John Dattilo told The Oregonian, “This kind of crash happens all the time, where people don’t want to get in trouble so they leave the car behind. But it’s not necessarily common for it to be a $200,000 McLaren, though.” In Washington State, leaving the scene of property damage as a driver can lead to a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge. The exact wording in the state’s legal code:
Chapter 46.52.010
(2) The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting only in damage to property fixed or placed upon or adjacent to any public highway shall take reasonable steps to locate and notify the owner or person in charge of such property of such fact and of the name and address of the operator and owner of the vehicle striking such property, or shall leave in a conspicuous place upon the property struck a written notice, giving the name and address of the operator and of the owner of the vehicle so striking the property, and such person shall further make report of such accident as in the case of other accidents upon the public highways of this state.
Though, the McLaren 600LT’s value makes it seem more likely that the driver was fleeing legal consequences more severe than a misdemeanor.