When the weather turns warm, the police turn up the highway heat.
RCMP were out with enhanced enforcement on the roads over the Easter long weekend, and traffic volumes maintained the average flow, said North District RCMP Staff Sgt. Gord Flewelling, a senior member of the region's highway enforcement units. Also maintaining normal course of events, the warmer weather led to less cautious driving.
"I did hear from the members on the roads that speeds were starting to creep up again," said Flewelling.
Although speeding cases were anecdotally up (official statistics are still being calculated), there was a downturn in highly aggressive speeding, leading to a statistic police love to see.
"There was one number that stood out for us: zero," he said. "There were zero fatalities across the region and there were zero serious injuries. Zero is what we are always hoping for."
Flewelling pointed to the Sept. 20, 2010 enactment of new laws targetting excessive speeds as one reason why. When a driver is caught going faster than 40 kilometres per hour above the posted speed limit, their vehicles are impounded for seven clear days (usually parts of nine days altogether), with the cost of towing and storage billed to the guilty party, plus a fine of at least $368.
"We are seeing fewer of those drivers, since the new regulations came into effect," Flewelling said. "That law seems to be working well."
But the legal consequences are minor in the event of a crash.
"It can be the difference between life and death. It just takes that much longer to stop, if something happens in front of you, and there are big dynamic effects, the faster you are going, if you hit something. The physics are amazing at those high speeds."
North District traffic Mounties have a strategic plan for this summer's drivers, said Flewelling. 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, so more zeroes are added on to the death and injury list.
