It was a busy holiday season for Alberta RCMP’s traffic safety enforcement team, with 998 tickets issued to drivers in the province.
Of those, 242 tickets were for speeding, 31 were for distracted driving and 21 were issued for seatbelt infractions.
Three of the drivers who were stopped exceeded the speed limit by at least 50 kilometres, which requires them to make a mandatory court appearance, according to RCMP Sgt. Darrin Turnbull.
Those drivers face a fine of up to $2000, plus another $600 victim surcharge, with the exact amount to be determined by a judge, added Turnbull.
The RCMP says 121 drivers were also taken off the roads for being impaired by drugs and/or alcohol.
Get daily National news
They included 80 drivers with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit of .08 percent. A first conviction for impaired driving results in a fine of at least $1,200, a 30-day vehicle seizure, an immediate licence suspension of at least 90 days and enrollment in the ignition interlock program, which requires the installation of a device to measure a driver’s blood alcohol content and prevent a vehicle from starting if it’s above a preset level.
Additional fines, driving suspensions and other penalties, including a possible criminal conviction imposed by the courts, with repeat offenders facing much tougher penalties.
Twenty-three other drivers were found to have a blood alcohol content between .05 and .08 percent. Those drivers had their licences suspended for at least three days, their vehicles temporarily seized (three days for a first conviction) and were fined at least $360, with much tougher penalties for repeat offenders.
The RCMP also responded to more than 100 serious collisions over the holidays, including 99 injury collisions and six fatal collisions, resulting in a total of seven fatalities.
Comments