THE BC Highway Patrol are pleading with drivers around the Province to slow down following a raft of fatal crashes.

On July 14, a BC Highway Patrol – Squamish member observed a blue 4 door sedan and red motorcycle travelling through the heart of Squamish at over 140 kph in the posted 70 kph zone. Thankfully, the BC Highway Patrol member was able to safely conduct a traffic stop at which time the officer found that the rider of the motorbike was also the owner of the blue sedan, and had a friend driving the vehicle to ‘clear’ the route for the motorbike. This was the third vehicle impounded on this day by BC Highway Patrol – Squamish.

On July 9, an officer with the Fraser Coast Integrated Road Safety Unit operating a police motorcycle was following a white Corvette when it suddenly accelerated to 213 kph in a 100 kph zone on Highway 1 near 176 Street in Langley.

On July 14, another officer with the Fraser Coast Integrated Road Safety Unit was conducting speed enforcement on foot on the Highway 91/17 Connector in Delta when he located a vehicle travelling at 122 kph in a 60 kph zone. The driver failed to stop for the police officer, but was located by a Delta Police Department member.

On July 11, an officer with BC Highway Patrol – Nelson observed a motorcyclist approach her from behind passing other vehicles on Highway 3A near Castlegar. She clocked the speed at 142 kph in a 70 kph zone. After stopping the motorcycle, she found the driver had a motorcycle learner’s license and he was breaching restrictions to have a supervisor and not ride over 60 kph.

Between July 8 and July 15, BC Highway Patrol officers in the Central (Okanagan) area stopped 40 drivers for excessive speed. Excessive speed is more than 40 kph over the posted speed limit.

On July 14, an officer of BC Highway Patrol’s Integrated Road Safety Unit in Prince George was conducting speed enforcement on Highway 97 and located a Volkswagen Jetta travelling at 122 kph in a 70 kph zone. Upon stopping the vehicle, the driver was found to be unlicensed and without insurance.

Two days earlier. another driver of a BMW from Alberta had been stopped for driving a whopping 212 kph in a 100 zone on the Caribou Highway in Prince George.

All of these drivers were issued violation tickets between $368 and $483 and the vehicles were impounded for seven days. Since July 1, BC Highway Patrol alone has issued 132 violation tickets for excessive speed.

Inspector Chad Badry, the acting Operations Officer for BC Highway Patrol, said: “Every driver needs to realize that the consequences for excessive speeding go far beyond getting an expensive ticket and your vehicle impounded. You have far less time to react to anything when going that fast, which is why excessive speed is so deadly.”