Flanked by 500 pairs of shoes, police, politicians and Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) officials urged drivers to be less lead-footed when they take to the roads this Victoria Day long weekend.
Collected by ICBC employees and representing a small fraction of the people injured and killed on B.C. roads each year, the shoes were laid out over the plaza at the Civic Centre on Friday morning to give a visual representation of the carnage caused by careless driving in the region.
To match the full count for the province as a whole, 75,900 people, an area the size of nine hockey rinks would have been required, ICBC spokeswoman Jill Blackstock said.
"These are injuries that could have been avoided if people were changing their driving behaviours and making smart driving choices," she said.
Holding up a pair of baby shoes to drive the message home, Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond noted that 3,400 people are killed and injured on northern B.C. roads each year.
"I don't know about you, but that's a pretty shocking reminder of why campaigns like this are important," she said and added a half dozen people are typically hurt or killed on the region and 70 across the province over the long weekend.
"Our goal is to ask people to slow down, you see more of the road," she said.
The long weekend also means more campers and trucks pulling boats will be out on the road,
noted Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell, and need to be given extra space.
"Oftentimes, drivers underestimate the potential risk associated with traveling behind or passing a large vehicle," he said.
Bell also maintained that those traveling at 130, 140 or 150 kilometres per hour deserve to have their vehicles taken away, "and if it was up to me, it would probably be taken away for a lot longer than we take it away right now.
"That is a lethal weapon and you cannot afford to be driving cars at excessive speeds. It puts not just you but everyone in your vehicle and everyone around you at a great deal of risk."
ICBC road safety director Fiona Temple said people often see themselves as good drivers.
"Maybe you don't speed excessively but do you push it because you're in a rush?" she said. "Maybe you don't run red lights but do you step on the gas to get through a yellow because 'oh, I can make it if I punch it?'"
"Or do you drive faster than you should when you're on the highway when you're trying to make it to your vacation spot for the long weekend?"
