School Zone Enforcement Campaign Nets Nearly 300 Speeders
Photo courtesy RCMP
Prince George, B.C.- Police warned they would be out patrolling school zones to ensure drivers got back into the habit of slowing down through school zones. Plenty of folks didn’t listen.
During this campaign, 278 provincial violation tickets were issued for speeding offences. Of that, eight drivers were issued excessive speeding tickets, including one driver that was 65 km/hour above the posted limit of 30 km/hour. Those eight drivers had their vehicles impounded for seven days.
But that’s not all, there were other infractions including:
- 17 seatbelt tickets
- 1 improperly restrained child
- 2 cell phone tickets
- 2 intersection-related violations
- 1 24-hr suspension for drugs
- 42 other tickets under the Motor Vehicle Act and its Regulations
In total, 379 tickets were issued during this project.
The RCMP will continue to patrol school and playground zones throughout the year. On a day when school is in-session, School Zone speed limits are 30 km per hour, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, unless otherwise posted. Playground Zone speed limits are 30 km per hour, from dawn until dusk, every day without exception.
“Despite our public warnings to slow down in school zones, nearly 300 tickets were issued for speeding in just nine school days” says Sgt. Matt LaBelle, in charge of the Prince George RCMP’s Municipal Traffic Services Section “This is not safe for children. We will continue to enforce speed limits in areas where children are vulnerable.”
In addition to the School Zone enforcement, RCMP volunteers with the Citizens on Patrol Program conducted Speed Watch throughout several school zones over the first nine days of school. Citizens on Patrol volunteers observed approximately 541 vehicles and found over 232 motorists driving over the posted 30 km/hour school zone limit. Although this year the total number of observed vehicles is half of last year’s total; the number of total speeding vehicles has doubled, up from 114 in 2016 to 232 at present.
Those drivers who went through a Speed Watch station but did not get stopped by police officers, will likely receive a warning letter in the mail. The letter, from the Detachment’s Community Policing Section, will explain the offence(s) observed and what the penalty could have been.
Comments
Wonder how many of those tickets where given out to those picking up or dropping off kids.
Good point seamutt.
Almost every parent who has kids in elementary school drops off and picks up their kids.
Incorrect, the majority if Springwood is bused.
65 k over speed limit was probably on the old cariboo hyway,,easy to forget if kids are in the class room and no school buses present.
You’re probably right. That would be pretty ignorant if someone was doing 95 kph on surface city streets…..
But it wouldn’t surprise me.
Check out Malaspina. It’s a race track even during school hours.
Good, hammer ’em, and hammer ’em hard!! Tickets should start at $500.00 and go up from there. School zones aren’t new.
add a zero to that. minimum
Maybe they should get tased as well. That’d teach ’em!
Good to hear, keep the pressure on!
I’m kind of surprised by the low number of cell phone users they caught in the sting.
The government appreciates your “donations “
Any idea how much money raised for the Government coffers??
awesome. while i find the highway patrols out on their revenue hunting quite vile, school zone enforcement is good.
Speeding is speeding…why is it okay on the highway?
Sometimes you need to speed to get past drivers that can only manage 85 to 90 kph until they get to a passing lane where they can miraculously speed up to 110 or 120 kph.
I agree. Just drove back from Lillooet on the weekend. Drivers doing 90km/h and as soon as you reach a passing lane up to 110km/hr. the police should be fining those drivers
What ever happened to the fine if you have a line up of cars behind you??
Comments for this article are closed.