ON Saturday, February 17, two drivers lost their vehicles to the impound lot: one for passing a stopped police vehicle with emergency lights activated at an astonishing 68 km/hr over the posted speed limit, and the second for impaired driving.

BC Highway Patrol’s Operational Support Unit was working with the Fraser Coast Integrated Road Safety Unit on a ‘Slow Down, Move Over’ campaign along Lougheed Highway in Maple Ridge.

The goal of this enforcement campaign was to educate drivers about the ‘slow down, move over’ law when passing a vehicle with flashing red, blue or yellow lights. The Motor Vehicle Act requires motorists to slow their speeds to 70 km/h when in an 80 km/h or over zone, or 40 km/h when in an under 80 km/h zone. When travelling on a multi-lane roadway, motorists are required to move into another lane if safe.

The intent of the law is to protect roadside workers. From 2008 to 2017, 230 workers were hit by motor vehicles and 12 of those workers passed away.

“During Saturday’s campaign, we handed out several hundred ‘Slow Down, Move Over’ educational pamphlets. We also served a multitude of violation tickets ranging from distracted driving tickets to speeding to impaired driving,” said Sgt. Steve Martin, BC Highway Patrol’s Police RoadSafetyBC Liaison. “We are reminding the motoring public to slow down and – if it is safe to do so – move over, when passing stopped official vehicles or face a $173 ticket.”