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Saanich police slap 22 drivers with excessive speeding fines in April

Drivers’ cars also impounded for a week
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Saanich police stopped 22 drivers for excessive speeding in the last month. (Saanich Police Traffic Safety Unit/Twitter)

From rural roads to right in front of the Saanich Police Department, speeders were at it again and officers were there to catch them.

Saanich police stopped 22 drivers for excessive speeding over the last 30 days. Const. Markus Anastasiades, public information officer for the Saanich Police Department, said. After an initial spike in excessive speeding in March, police were starting to see a trend back to the “normal stats” – compared to 2019 – but the numbers are going back up.

“It’s frustrating,” he said.

Most speeders are being caught on the highway corridors, construction zones, in front of the Saanich Police Department where Vernon Avenue and Blanshard Street meet the Pat Bay Highway and on rural roads such as Willis Point Road and Oldfield Road, Anastasiades explained.

Around 6 a.m. on April 30, Saanich police stopped a driver going 108 km/h in a 60 km/h construction zone on the Trans-Canada Highway. That afternoon, another excessive speeder was caught in the same area.

On April 25 and 27, officers were out looking for speeders on Oldfield Road – a street in rural Saanich where, on April 19, a driver crashed into a telephone pole. Over the two days, police stopped two drivers for excessive speeding in the 50 km/h zone – one going 105 km/h and the other 96 km/h, Anastasiades said.

He emphasized that as a driver, “you know when you’re doing double the speed limit – you feel unsafe.”

He said roads are designed for specific speeds, and the safety of other road users is taken into account when setting speed limits.

Fines for excessive speeding can range from $368 to $483 depending on how far over the speed limit the driver is going, the vehicle is impounded for a week and three penalty points are added to the driver’s licence, Anastasiades said. He emphasized that police don’t want to ticket people or take them off the roads but they must enforce the Motor Vehicle Act and other road users deserve to feel safe.

Anastasiades added that several motorcyclists were among those stopped for excessive speeding. As May is Motorcycle Awareness Month, he hopes that motorcyclists will heed reminders to follow road rules.

The month isn’t just about reminding drivers to be mindful of motorcyclists but also to remind motorcycle-users to look out for themselves and others, Anastasiades said.


@devonscarlett
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devon.bidal@saanichnews.com