Prince George RCMP kicked off high risk driving awareness month with a speed campaign at the intersection of Ospika Boulevard and Dufferin Avenue Monday.
Police as well as B.C. Highway Patrol, Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement, ICBC and RCMP volunteers were out looking for speeders and reminding drivers to slow down.
“We are out on the streets today just making sure Prince George is aware that it is high risk driving month and that we need to slow down,” said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jenn Cooper.
“It is starting to get to that time of year where we are free of frost and ice so feel a little safer in speeding up and getting on the gas petal and we want to remind drivers that it is inherently risky for a lot of reasons.”
Cooper said violation tickets for speeding range anywhere from $138 dollars to $483 dollars and three points on your license. Drivers who are doing over 40 km/h past the post speed limit also risk getting their vehicles towed and impounded.
“But mostly it is the danger to everyone else on the road. It takes so much longer for your vehicle to stop when you are traveling at higher speeds so if you have to make an emergency maneuver you may not be successful.”
Cooper said she hopes this campaign reminds drivers to slow down as the May long weekend is coming up and more cars are expected to be using the roads.
“Hopefully we will get good weather eventually so we will see more people on our roads as we head out to lakes, camping, to visit family and friends so we want this to be in the forefront of everyone’s minds,” noted Cooper.
“From now until the end of summer we do see an average of 13 high speed-related crashes per month in the northern region so we just want people to keep that in mind as they are going about on their travels.”
Doug Mac Donald, the road safety and community coordinator at ICBC, said they’ve already seen quite a few speeders on Ospika Boulevard.
“We see a lot of people this morning that are in a hurry to get to someplace but they are really causing an issue. Here we have a set of pedestrian-controlled lights and we have people sometimes running the red light when people are trying to cross the road,” said Mac Donald.
“We are trying to remind drives to slow down, give yourself enough time to get to where you are going, and don’t be a statistic. It is just not worth it.”
