‘They will get tickets’: B.C. solicitor general warns excessive speeders about taking advantage of open roads – BC

With more people staying at and working from home during the pandemic, there are fewer drivers on B.C. roads. While less traffic means fewer crashes, it also appears some speed demons are taking advantage of the open highways.

“In the last few weeks to a month, we have seen an increase in excessive speeding,” Const. Markus Anastasiades of the Saanich Police Department told Global News.

Saanich police traffic and patrol officers impounded a total of 16 vehicles for excessive speeding in the last three weeks of March and first week of April – compared to just two impounds during the same 30 day period in February and March.

All were going at least 40 kilometres over the posted speed limit, including two clocked at 151km/hr and 153km/hr in an 80 km/hr zone.

Anastasiades can only speculate on what may have fuelled the brief 700 per cent spike in drivers pushing the pedal to the metal.

“Perhaps the fact that the roads were more open and people were taking liberties with less traffic and deciding to speed unfortunately,” he said.

Greater Victoria’s Trans-Canada and Pat Bay Highways are not the only major arteries being used as racetracks during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

In recent weeks, police agencies across the province have been highlighting excessive speeding incidents on social media.

“It’s really quite shocking,” B.C. public safety minister Mike Farnworth told Global News.

During the first two weeks of April, Coquitlam RCMP towed the vehicles of 12 alleged excessive speeders – one of them clocked at 118 km/hr in a 70 km/hr zone and another a new driver caught doing more than 40 km/hr over the speed limit.

“Less traffic volume is not a valid reason to drive faster,” read an April 7 tweet from the detachment.

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On April 16, Abbotsford Police nabbed a driver doing 142 km/hr in an 80 km/hr zone on Highway 11.

Later that same day, Ridge Meadows RCMP towed an SUV after the person behind the wheel was clocked at 132 km/hr in a 60 km/hr zone, which is 72 km/hr over the limit. According to a tweet from the force, their excuse was “being late for your tee time.”

In four separate incidents this month, Burnaby RCMP caught nine excessive speeders – including one who was allegedly flooring it at 113 km/hr in a 50 km/hr zone, another who failed to produce a Driver’s Licence or “N” sign, and a third who is also accused of distracted driving.

During a sunny April 20 stretch, two supercar drivers are accused of flying the curve instead of flattening it on the Sea to Sky Highway. Squamish RCMP posted photos of the Aston Martin and Audi parked on a flat bed tow truck after their drivers were clocked at 163 km/hr and 188 km/hr in an 80 km/hr zone at Porteau Cove.

“We will have to ask the experts if a side effect of the COVID lockdown is bringing the inner race car driver out,” read a tweet from the detachment.

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That same evening, Victoria police seized a motorcycle after its rider was busted for cruising at approximately 140 km/hr in a 50 km/hr zone on Blanshard Street. The alleged offending motorcyclist was slapped with more than $1,300 in violation tickets for excessive speed, no insurance and no licence.

“Some drivers seem to think the rules don’t apply to them,” said Farnworth.

“They think that they’re better than everybody else.”

Farnworth, who also serves as the province’s solicitor general, promises excessive speeders will not be tolerated.

“They will get caught and they will get tickets and the fines have been significantly increased.”

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Driving 40 kilometres over the speed limit in B.C. will net you a $368 fine and three penalty points on your driving record. Motorists caught doing more than 60 kilometres over the maximum allowable speed are subject to a $483 fine plus three penalty points.

All excessive speeding offences come with an immediate impoundment of seven days for the first offence, plus towing and storage costs. A second offence within two years will see offenders lose their rides for 30 days and they’ll be on the hook for approximately $700 in towing and storage costs. Any subsequent speeding incidents with the same two year period will be punished with a 60 day impound, and towing and storage fees will soar to more than $1,200.

After their recent full throttle COVID-19 crackdown, Saanich police say traffic is trending back to normal – with drivers starting to slow down again.

Public safety remains top priority, and for anyone hightailing it down an open highway, don’t expect police to put the brakes on enforcement during the pandemic.

“We’re not you know, changing our normal procedures in dealing with violators that choose to speed,” Anastasiades told Global News.