EDMONTON – 29 people lost their lives in collisions in Edmonton last year. According to the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), most of those fatal crashes involved either speed (57%) or an impaired driver (35%).
“We continually get those drivers doubling the posted speed limit, putting themselves at risk. A lot of the accidents that we had last year, speed was the major contributor to the fatalities,” says Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht.
Some drivers continue to ignore the message that speed can be deadly. On New Year’s Eve, photo radar captured a vehicle traveling 61 kilometers over the posted limit at 105 Street and 98 Avenue, and a truck was caught traveling 66 kilometers over the speed limit on Thursday.
In these cases the drivers will receive a mandatory court appearance summons, but the Police Chief wants punishment in these cases to be more severe. He has called on the province to pass legislation allowing police to seize the vehicles of excessive speeders.
“It’s a daily occurrence here and I really think we’ve got to focus on this because people are dying,” stresses Knecht.
He says a resolution will be put to the provincial government in the spring to have legislation changed to give police the authority to seize vehicles of excessive speeders. The Police Chief has had discussions with the Solicitor General about the issue.
“The discussion is largely around, you know, what should the cut off be. Should it be 40 kilometers per hour, as it is in some provinces, 50 kilometers in some provinces, and 60 kilometers over some provinces,” explains Knecht.
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“I think it is important to get the feedback from the public. What is the threshold that the public is willing to accept around seizing vehicles?”
Knecht would like to target repeat offenders in particular.
“If we get that discretion, it’s going to be based on the interaction with the individual, maybe his driving history, attitude, all those kinds of things,” adds Knecht.
“So, if we have that discretion, that’s an opportunity for us to – we can seize the vehicle if we know we have a prolific offender, somebody that’s continuously disobeying the law and putting the public in danger or we can let the person go with a warning.”
Edmonton’s Police Chief says the province wants to get feedback from the public before making a decision
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