Some Just Don’t Pay Attention
North District RCMP Regional Traffic Services Unit Cst. Gary Peebles, clocks vehicles heading north on the Old Cariboo Highway-photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – Although the message about school zones being active again and that police would be out to ensure the rules are obeyed has been carried by media throughout the region, some folks seem to have been asleep at the wheel.
Pineview Elementary, located on the west side of the old Cariboo Highway, is smack dab in the middle of a straight away where posted speed limits drop from 90 to 70, then down to 30 when school is in session. Despite all the warnings that school zone speeds would be high on the radar for police today ( and for the next couple of weeks) some drivers this morning thought doing about 40 km/h would be acceptable.
They thought wrong.
Between 8:15 and 8:30 this morning, Constable Gary Peebles of the North District RCMP Regional Traffic Services, clocked a couple of drivers doing 40 or a little better in the zone. While it was clear from the audible sounds of the radar unit that the drivers were attempting to slow from 70 to 30, (sound of detector slips from high pitch to low) they didn’t quite hit the mark once the school zone started. In both cases, the drivers were motioned to pull over for a “chat”. Warnings were given to both.
What was very encouraging was that commercial vehicles were acting responsibly. Slowing long before the speed zone change, and no engine brake sounds to indicate it was a last minute decision, but Cst. Peebles says that may be a result of the chatter between truckers advising others of the police presence, still, if the big rigs were slowing down, that’s good news.
One father who was dropping off his son for his first day of classes asked if it was possible for police to be present everyday “People are screaming along this highway”. The advice passed to him, and to anyone who observes excessive speeders or erratic drivers, is that they take down the plate number, make note of the details of the incident ( location, time) and contact police. If the person is prepared to make a sworn statement and go to court, the offending driver will face action.
Comments
Used to see them along foothills all the time, not so much any more.
Has anyone actually heard of a case such as this going to court? Do the police actually have time to attend the court? “chats” are not good enough, a ticket would have been much better.
just what we need vigilante traffic enforcement. Mercenary…Dearth and a few others would have us all thrown in jail. Clear the streets of all us pagans.
A Victoria-area cyclist was apparently not pleased about getting a ticket for allegedly flying through a school zone on Wednesday morning, but police say the law applies to everyone on wheels.
The cyclist was caught in one of six speed traps set up by Saanich Police this morning.
Police initially put out a warning to drivers to watch out for pedestrians and cyclists, but less than 30 minutes later they extended the warning to cyclists to watch their speed too, after nabbing the free-wheeler.
Police did not say how much the cyclist was fined, but speeding in a school zone can cost as much as $483.
Oh wow. I’m a celebrity. Cool.
Not sure if jail time is warranted for a minor speed infraction but you can bet that if someone kills a kid in a school zone the general public would be in favour of some street justice…even if the driver wasn’t at fault.
I tend to see plenty of vehicles with “L” and “N” plates speeding through school zones too. Tells me that the parents “teaching” these kids how to drive just aren’t doing a very good job…
$500 hit to the wallet would get their attention. School zones and playgrounds are no place to speed.
Comments for this article are closed.