One of the weekends most prone to injury, damage and death on the region's roadways got a relatively clean bill of health this year.
Police saturated the regional roads over the Labour Day long weekend and on Tuesday the results gave them a smile.
"The Prince George Region Traffic Services Unit is very pleased to once again report no serious injury and no fatal motor vehicle collisions in the Prince George regional area over the Labour Day long weekend," said Sgt. Pat McTiernan, a senior Mountie with the region's traffic police.
This result encompasses all of the City of Prince George and the regional district surrounding the city as well. Within city limits there were 17 vehicles impounded for alcohol-related offenses alone, giving an indication of just what dangers lurked due to the choices made by drivers.
As 15 police members at a time were on the provincial roadways, and that had something to do with the safer statistics, and so did the media message going into the long weekend that put a timely emphasis on driver accountability, said McTiernan.
He said the police officers came back to their posts with an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the attitudes shown them by drivers, even if they were getting a ticket.
"While the traffic services units were required to work the entire long weekend, they are comforted by the fact that they saw lower speeds and more responsible drivers," McTiernan reported. "The most important factor: they didn't have to conduct any next of kin notifications and they didn't spend any time at the hospital consoling families or friends."
There were no fatalities or serious injuries over the 2010 Labour Day holiday either, in this region.
According to ICBC data from 2005 through 2009, about 1,725 crashes, 515 injuries and five fatalities occur each year in B.C. during the Labour Day long weekend. Due to tougher new penalties for impaired driving, distracted driving and aggressive driving since those numbers were calculated, authorities said they were interested to see what the changes would be in the few years ahead.
LABOUR DAY HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE REGION (PRINCE GEORGE NOT INCLUDED)
- 10 vehicles impounded specifically for excessive speeding - with the high speed of 165 km/h in a 100 km/h zone, and the second highest at 135 km/h in a 70 km/h zone.
- Six vehicles impounded for alcohol related offenses.
- Two drivers suspended (24 hours) for drug impairment.
- One driver suspended (24 hours) for alcohol impairment.
- Three drivers were served suspensions pursuant to the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles.
- Two warrants were executed.
- Five drug seizures were made from vehicles.
