As the “unofficial start to summer,” May long weekend is notoriously busy for police officers and Cpl. Mike Elston said this year was no exception.
“We had in the central/north Island amongst my guys alone, four impaired drivers and there were I’m estimating probably 200 other offenses that were located… everything from speeding to no drivers licence to basically anything under the sun,” Elston told The NEWS Tuesday morning after the Victoria Day long weekend.
He said RCMP officers set up a road block at the Taylor River rest stop along Highway 4 Friday night.
“It was a big operation with 14 members out Friday night targeting traffic going out to the West Coast,” he said, noting police issued one DUI that night and conducted a few drug seizures.
Elston said the roads were traffic-heavy on Monday.
“I was out yesterday and the amount of RV traffic was incredible, it was a good weekend and obviously there are a lot of people on the road,” he said. “There was a lot of speeding (Monday) especially in the morning and early afternoon, especially southbound with people headed back to the ferries or Victoria.”
But while there were lots of tickets issued, Elston said there were no major car accidents to report.
“In terms of accidents, there were slim to none,” he said. “There were no major accidents that I’m aware of, but lots of standard offences.”
Elston said RCMP had a “full contingent” policing the roads over the weekend.
“Everybody was working,” he said. “We had operations going out on Highway 4, some in Bowser, a lot of enforcement around Parksville as well… it was a busy but safe weekend.”
This comes after a two-day “enforcement blitz” on Highway 19A May 6 and 7 in the Nanoose Bay area in which Oceanside Municipal Traffic, the Nanaimo Integrated Road Safety Unit and the Central and South Vancouver Island Traffic Services participated in.
Police call the Nanoose Bay corridor a “high crash” location due to several speed-related, fatal collisions over the last two years.
According to a news release issued by RCMP, officers focussed their efforts on dangerous and high risk drivers which resulted in the impounding of 14 vehicles for seven days each due to excessive speed.
There was also one person found to be impaired by alcohol and subsequently issued a 90 day Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP).
“Since new legislation took effect in September of 2010, an officer must impound the vehicle of someone travelling more than 40 kilometres over the posted speed limit,” said Oceanside Staff Sgt. Brian Hunter. “Despite this, it would appear people are not getting the message to slow down.”
