The only things truly labouring over the September long weekend were the engines of vehicles driven by leadfoot drivers as they made their way through the valley.
The worst Labour Day weekend maniac was a Calgary driver busted for pushing his Acura to 212 km/h in the national park. At 122 kilometres over the park speed limit, (90 km/h) the driver was also charged with careless driving and dangerous driving, Saturday (Aug. 31).
The Bow Valley Integrated Traffic Unit (BVITU), RCMP and sheriffs combined, were out in full force in Banff park and, over the weekend, wrote 710 tickets, up 78 per cent over the same Labour Day weekend last year. Of those, 45 were ticketed for driving 51 km/h over the speed limit; an increase of 21.6 per cent over last year.
The fact so many drivers continue to drive so fast is disappointing to members of the BVITU, said team leader Cpl. Chris Blandford, Tuesday (Sept. 3). “On the other hand,” he said, “we got these people. And when I had the guy doing 212 pulled over, I had two motorists pull over, honk their horns give me a thumbs up.”
At another point of the weekend, he said, he had two pickups pulled over for doing 142 km/h. “A guy slowed down, rolled down his window and said ‘great job.’ ”
Vehicles ticketed for doing the highest speeds were cars, said Blandford, and, other than one Porsche clocked at 180, most were of the standard variety.
Two Edmonton drivers who were racing through the park at 150 km/hr were driving a Chevy Cobalt and a Mitsubishi Lancer. Other major leadfoots busted were clocked at 192, 180, 163, etc. One Calgary man driving his girlfriend’s car at 166 km/h managed to get her car impounded for 30 days as he was driving while prohibited. As well, the two were charged with possession of marijuana, and he with careless driving, other Traffic Safety Act charges and possession of a prohibited weapon (brass knuckles).
BVITU members laid an additional eight speeding charges against motorists who were travelling between 150 and 160 km/h, while 31 charges were laid against motorists travelling between 140 and 149 km/h.
All cars stopped for speeding were owned, none were rentals, and most were stopped during daylight hours.
Under the Traffic Safety Act, said Blandford, fines top out at $351 for driving 50 km/h over the speed limit. Beyond that, it’s up to judges who see the speeders in their courtrooms.
“It’s sometimes in the range of $1,000 to $2,000,” he said, “although recently a young lad I had stopped was fined $4,600; it’s entirely up to the judge.”
Although with speeders in the maniac range were those who don’t learn their lesson.
On two occasions on the weekend, said Blandford, speeders were handed a second ticket within minutes of an original stop. In one instance, he said, a driver was stopped for doing 139 km/h twice in less than 20 minutes. In another, a driver stopped at 128 km/h was stopped and ticketed again less than 10 minutes later for clocking 135 km/h.
“We send them to court,” he said. “We take a little tougher stand, because they’re just not learning.”
