Province, Police Launch Anti-Speed Campaign
Prince George, B.C. – The province and police have launched a campaign to encourage motorists to slow down as we head into winter.
The “Too Fast for Road and Weather Conditions Campaign” will run the entire month of November.
“Our officers will be looking for drivers who are following too closely and who are travelling too fast for the road conditions,” says North District Traffic Services Staff Sergeant Pat McTiernan.
“We have to be aware that poor road conditions are going to be here now for the next six months. We may see a warm-up during the day but certainly at night it’s going to get cool and frosty which will translate into slippery and adverse road conditions.”
Along with slowing down he says people also need to prepare properly before heading out on the road.
“People have to clean their windshields and their side windows before they leave their driveways. They should also have some visibility to the rear.”
McTiernan says failing to take those simple steps could lead to tragedy like it did in the Hart last winter.
“That young fellow got into his car, didn’t clean his windows and pulled out in front of a log truck. It was a classic example of not getting your car ready before you go out in the morning.”
He says it may seem like common sense advice but notes far too commonly people forget to take these simple steps.
“I guarantee you on our first snowfall there will be people who will be driving around with their drivers side window covered in snow, with their passenger side window covered and they’ll be looking through a little hole in the windshield that they’ve cleared just enough so they can see.”
Comments
Nice to hear but this I got to see…..
I too am skeptical. One rainy day I was doing 75 km up the Hart, the ghost SUV passed me, so he was probably doing 80, and then after that two more passed me, then passed him on the right, because he didn’t “keep right except to pass”, and I thought – finally – justice will be served. All he did was flash his lights to get them to slow down, and carried on his merry way. Perhaps he had important work to do, but I’m pretty sure that particular unit is traffic tasked, and that rain had a lot to do with whether or not anyone was getting a ticket that day. Not so sure they’ll be any more motivated to get out of the warm car on a cold morning.
That said, nice to see everyone travelling at 90 plus km an hour on the black ice of Chief Lake Rd this morning. Thought it was especially classy with all the kids standing on the side of the road waiting for their school bus. Hope that extra couple of minutes saved was worth the risk of hitting a kid or a ditch.
“ski 51”
??????cops were speeding just like you and passing ghost cars on the right? Wow I guess we are all going to Hell. I would rather see enforcement on lack of signal use and proper road edicate for a change. Far to many people complain about bad parking and other frivolous crap. Speeders do and will be pulled over. It seems that nothing else is enforced!
Still waiting for the “Anti Dangerous Driver” campaign. Had a guy run me out of road in Vanderhoof last week at the end of a passing lane, (again). He came flying up beside me right at the end of it and stayed right beside me, forcing me to brake quite hard. Then when he was right in front of me he slammed on his brakes. I assume he thought 60,000 kilo’s wouldn’t flatten him.
The roadside memorials will increase on Hwy 16 West this winter. Mark my words.
Uncle Pin – read it again. People were speeding on Chief Lake Rd on black ice this morning, while kids were waiting for the school bus – that’s a real safety issue.
My other point, isn’t a personal war on speeding. It’s a comment on the sad state of the local RCMP detachment. They don’t enforce much – not just speeding. So I’m quite skeptical this anti-speed campaign will be anything more than window dressing. When a ghost car can’t be bothered to write a ticket for speeding, he’s sure not going to take the time to write a ticket for anything else.
They’ll have their little play day where they’ll write a ton tickets, then they’ll go back to their comfy new building.
I agree, proper road etiquette is lost on many PG drivers. But it’s not going to get any better when we have a detachment that would rather do anything but traffic control.
When a driver is in a lane that is ending it is their responsibility to safely merge into the other lane. You do not run out of road if you lift your right foot and merge into the other lane when it is safe to do so. Could be that the other driver brake checked you because of aggressive driving on your part. Pockets full of halloween candy so no room for ball bearings?
A comprehensive “Anti Dangerous Driver” campaign would include people who use their high beams as an offensive weapon.
Lots of drivers using hwy 16 and Domano intersection tuned to their cell phones.
My prediction is we’ll see several stories about accidents and cars in the ditch after the first snow. I know, I’m going way out on a limb.
Will they be doing anything about the high speed drivers on Dawson Road through the Glenview Elementary School zone as well and the endless number of traffic violations and near misses with pedestrians at the intersection of Highway 97 and Austin Road?
The passing lane ended (look at the Yellow signs 200m to go), so why are you still passing big Trucks in the right lane ? are you late for Work? One Day one of the big Trucks will take you out and you say what?
I wonder if the truck driver who ran over those two people by CNC, blogged of his “professional” driving credentials? As if that piece of paper means a thing. A pizza delivery driver is a “professional” driver.
Sparrow. Reading dragonmaster’s post how do you assume he was driving aggressively? He was in the right hand lane where he should be. He could stay in the left lane all the way from the bottom and not worry about having to merge at the top. A little common sense would tell me to let him merge rather than possibly being forced in to oncoming traffic.
Jimmy Hughes.Were you there at the scene of the accident on 22nd? Maybe you could enlighten us with the details.
oldcoot
If you are in the right lane and have to “brake quite hard” to avoid being “run out of road” either means driving in an aggressive manner by keeping a foot in it or not using the mirrors to keep aware of what is going on. It is the driver in the right lane who is responsible to adjust speed to merge into the traffic flow.
There are a lot of truck drivers around who have more wheels on their truck than points in their IQ.
Yes, I would really like to see policemen or women ride in the passenger seat of any truck for awhile. It would be a real education for them and possibly they could radio incidents to patrol cars as they went along.
I for one would really like to see that. There may be other professional drivers who would feel the same way.
How about it Lomack or Excel? or any other trucks that haul fairly locally?
It might be an eye opener for smaller vehicle drivers too.
Oldcoot – considering dragons bragged about his aggressive and dangerous driving on here repeatedly sparrow is making a safe bet.
On most hills in Northern BC the right lane runs out long before a truck is up to the legal speed limit. If truck drivers were to stop because there might be a chance that they may slow someone down by merging traffic would come to a standstill. In the winter you would have numerous trucks blocking both lanes chaining up. When merging it is assumed that you will be doing the same speed as the rest of traffic. This is rarely the case. All i’m saying is keep crowding trucks and you may wind up in the oncoming lane. I personally will not the one doing it to you ,however there are aggresive drivers with 32 wheels under them as well as 4. You decide what you want to do .Common sense tells me if your vehicle comes in contact with a loaded truck you will lose.You can be dead right if that you chose.
That’s choose for those that would question my intelligence over a spelling mistake.
oldcoot, I spend a lot of time on the highway and in my opinion the worst drivers tend to be our Class 1 “Professional” drivers!
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have had to hug the edge of the road because some idiot in a chip or logging truck seems to think that straddling the centre line is the proper way to drive!
Time and time again, faster moving traffic is held back by two semis traveling side by side up a long hill, preventing anyone from passing in the PASSING lane!
I also love travelling at or slightly above the speed limit, with a fully loaded semi riding my rear bumper!
Never mind that if you are following one of these large units that is travelling slower than you are, as soon as you pull out to pass, they speed up and act like they want to race you!
I put on more than my fair share of miles each year and I seldom see the bad driving behaviors from the average passenger vehicle drivers as I see from our Pros! The professionalism shown by our Pros has been on a downhill slide for the past 20 or 30 years!
As if citing Lomak or Excel drivers bolsters your case. Within the industry the prevailing opinion would hardly want to present those drivers as the face of “professional” driving.
Just spend 30 minutes at the lights at Hwy 16 and Domano and see how many of your most favoured “professional” drivers enter the intersection at terminal velocity.”…oh, but those are just the bad apples in the bunch” Yeah-right!
Why are so many of you want to be “Dead Right” ? Let the Truck go on, slowing down costs you nothing, most Trucks will get back up to Speed shortly (100kph)
Comments for this article are closed.