Sgt. Blaine Mumford of the Tofino is reminding local, and visiting, bicyclists to obey stop signs.
“We’ve had a few people come in to complain about cyclists not obeying the stop signs in town…I’ve had incidents myself where bicyclists have whizzed by me when I’m waiting at the stop sign,” Mumford told the Westerly.
“Like any other vehicle on the road, they have to obey the rules and really, ultimately, stopping at those stop signs is going to protect them from getting hurt. If they have an interaction with a car, the car is going to come out on the winning end of that so it’s just a reminder to people to please stop at the stop signs.”
A cyclist who fails to stop at a stop sign is subject to a $167 fine.
Summer’s action a bummer for some
Tofino police have seen a significant upswing in nuisance calls, like noise complaints and public alcohol consumption, according to Sgt. Mumford.
“The standard summertime increase in people is having that effect,” he said.
He encourages locals to continue reporting noise complaints and said these reports help police crack down on nuisances before they become long-standing issues.
“It helps us to know if there are places or houses where this is a common occurring event and then we can try other methods to deal with it aside from just attending the one time,” he said.
“If we have a place that’s becoming a party house…we can go in the daytime and try and have a bit of a conversation with the people living there and explain the impact they’re having on the people who live around them. They might not fully understand that other people who live nearby have to work and have kids and all those things that make the noise a problem for people.”
Along with noise complaints, Mumford encourages anyone who sees anyone causing a ruckus or consuming alcohol in public to let police know at 250-725-3242.
“We want to come and deal with those things and it’s not always that we’re going to come and engage right into enforcement and giving people tickets. Often, education is the first step when we’re dealing with those kinds of situations,” he said.
“We’ll talk to people and explain to them what the rules are and 95 per cent of the time that’s all it takes, people are happy to comply and then everyone’s happy.”
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
