As island residents take to the highway to enjoy their summer holidays, the Nanaimo RCMP Traffic Unit has a request: “slow the blazes down.”
The Nanaimo police wrote 27 excessive speed tickets in June, a four-hundred percent increase over June of last year.
The RCMP says that, overall, traffic violations in June also increased by 18 percent over last year.
There were 338 tickets, compared to 277 in the same month in 2019.
Constable Gary O’Brien of the Nanaimo RCMP calls these statistics alarming.
He says speeding continues to be one of the leading causes of motor vehicle accidents.
Excessive speed is 40 to 60-kilometres per hour above the posted speed limit.
It results in a fine of 368 dollars and police impound the car for seven days.
Anything above 60-kilometres per hour over the speed limit and the fine rises to 483 dollars and the vehicle is impounded for seven days.
