Just before the lunch bell sounded on Thursday, the sound of a racing engine cut the air in front of Pineview Elementary School.
It was followed by the sound of a police siren.
"Our traffic section clocked an individual at 122 kilometres per hour through a posted school zone during school hours, the parking lot full of cars, just prior to the school being released for lunch," said Prince George RCMP media liaison officer Gary Godwin.
The driver was given a fine - $483 - plus had his vehicle seized for seven clear days (meaning parts of nine days: the rest of Thursday and whatever time it is picked up after the seizure week ends).
The driver will have to pay the towing bill and the storage bill for the parking spot at the impound yard.
"The driver was a 25-year-old male from Quesnel," said Godwin. "I don't know how he's going to get home, but..."
He added that traffic police have been known to be lenient out on the area's highways but "in school zones, we are going to throw the book at you."
Pineview school is located on Old Cariboo Highway about a 15 minutes' drive east of downtown, when travelling at the posted speed limits.
North District traffic Mounties have a strategic plan for this summer's drivers, said North District RCMP Staff Sgt. Gord Flewelling, a senior member of the region's highway enforcement units.
New legislation is having a positive impact, so he wants driver education and law enforcement to get a boost as well, especially around each long weekend from now until autumn.
The B.C. government changed the Motor Vehicle Act to impose harsher penalities on driving travelling 40 km/h over the posted speed limit beginning on September 20, 2010.
The Solicitor-General's and Public Safety Ministry followed through with mandatory impounds for speeders after seeing positive results from similar measures in Ontario that took effect in September of 2007, according to B.C. Superintendent of Motor Vehicle's Steve Martin.
An average of 167 people are killed due to excessive speeds on B.C. roads every year, according to Martin, and May and September are the deadliest months as drivers rush to make the most of their first and last long weekends of the summer.
First time speeders exceeding 40 kilometres over the posted speed limit can expect to pay as much as $737 for ticket, towing and storage fees and face a mandatory seven-day impoundment.
Subsequent costs include a $320 ICBC driver-risk premium charge every year for three years, and three demerit points on their driving records.
A second speeding offense will see a 30-day impoundment and as much as $1,243 up front, plus a $370 annual driver-risk premium each year for three years.
For third-time and subsequent excessive-speeding offences within two years, drivers will face a 60-day vehicle impoundment and be charged as much as $1,903 plus an additional $430 ICBC premium each year for three years.
