Every year in central Ontario (and anywhere else that has lakes and Winter one would presume), you hear stories of the dim-witted perishing when their snow machine falls through the ice. This time we have the owner of an Audi S8 luxury sedan which has broken through the ice on Lake Simcoe, near Keswick, Ontario.

It has been a topsy-turvy season for temperatures this Winter, which has left bodies of water which are normally frozen solid at this time of year unusually fragile. Add in unseasonably mild temperatures over the past week and ice conditions all over are very unsafe. So much so that local officials have been posting “unsafe ice” signs at water access points for weeks.

And so, yesterday, when the temperature was hovering near 12 degrees, the owner of an Audi S8 decided that it would be a great idea to head out on the ice. The Audi was about 5 metres from shore when it broke through the ice. By the time police arrived, the Audi had disappeared beneath the surface. The driver and passenger, along with a friend who was called to help, were standing next to the hole. Apparantly, Quattro all-wheel-drive does not help a car float.

Most car insurance policies become void once you venture out onto the ice, which means that this guy is going to be on the hook for the expense. In most cases where a car is flooded, especially a modern one full of computers, it is deemed un-repairable. Cha-ching!

It amazes me that my teenagers, who are regular pond hockey players, have the smarts to stay off the ice when there is even the slightest chance that it is unstable and yet someone who can afford a car with a $134,200 base price, are stupid enough to expect it to support a car.

Photo credit: B Colero via Barrie 411 on Facebook. The comments on this post are priceless!