EDMONTON – The Edmonton Police Chief wants his officers to have increased powers when it comes to tackling excessive speeding. And he’s now formally asking the province for help with the issue he says continues to be a problem on city streets.
“It is a concern,” said Chief Rod Knecht. “Our focus is not on mom and pop speeding a little bit. Our focus is on those prolific offenders that are going extreme speeds, that are putting themselves in danger; or they’re putting other people who are sharing the road with them in danger.”
Specifically, it’s the motorists who are going 50 kilometres per hour or more over the speed limit that police are wanting to target.
At a meeting of the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police in Banff last week, Knecht introduced a resolution he believes could help deal with those excessive speeders. The proposal asks for police to seize their vehicles on the spot, and keep them impounded for a week.
Sgt. Gary Lamont deals with cases of excessive speeding firsthand, and has no difficulty listing some recent examples.
“174 in a 100 zone…138 on Wayne Gretzky Drive, just last week…(James MacDonald bridge) 116 in a 60,” he recalls. “These things are happening…everyday. Not just once or twice but all day, everyday.”
Not surprisingly, Lamont welcomes the proposed legislation.
“It’s been a frustration of mine for years,” he says. “All of us that are out there everyday on the street would support this legislation whole-heartedly.”
Edmontonians like Bernadette Holowach, who regularly sees people speeding in her neighbourhood, are also on board.
“I would definitely agree with that…take their drivers license and take their vehicle away. For me, simple as that.”
Not in favour of the idea, though: the justice minister. He says it’s not something the province is currently considering.
“I haven’t seen any evidence to date that additional powers for vehicle seizures to our police is going to make our roads safer. But if they have any additional information that they’d like to provide, I’d be open to that.”
Existing legislation in Alberta already allows police to arrest excessive speeders. The legislation Knecht would like to see is similar to what already exists in Ontario, Quebec, and B.C. To Denis, that doesn’t mean much.
“Just because B.C. does something, doesn’t mean Alberta has to follow suit,” he says. “We have to act in the best interests of the people of this province. And the two provinces are very different.”
Hear more from Denis in the interview below:
Knecht, however, is adamant that giving officers the power to seize vehicles will have an impact on the “prolific offenders.”
“Those people who are out there, who are driving irresponsibly at extreme rates of speed…that’s who we want to focus on. It isn’t an accident that I pushed it down a little bit or I’m in a bit of a hurry. These are people who are out there – for lack of a better word – they’re racing.”
“It’s frustrating when somebody’s going 200 km/hr over the speed limit,” he adds, “and you give them a ticket and send them on their way…At the end of the day, we just don’t want people killed.”
During the most recent Operation 24 Hours speed enforcement blitz conducted by EPS last week, officers issued 2,810 speeding tickets. Last year, 56 per cent of traffic fatalities in Edmonton involved speed.
With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News
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