Swift Current drivers would have noticed a heavy police presence in the city for the past two days. The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) was aiming to pull over hundreds of motorists.
STEP brings police officers from across the province together to combine resources to take traffic enforcement to various Saskatchewan cities.
“We are taking traffic safety seriously in the province of Saskatchewan,” Swift Current RCMP Cpl. Mike Young said.
This is the second time in under five years the program has been in Swift Current. Police look for everything from serious incidents like impaired driving to seat belt violations.
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“We also look at the highway traffic act, speeding, so aggressive driving, stop signs, cell phone usage, seat belts and child seat restraints,” Young said.
Also present at each of the four locations were child restraint technicians to help drivers ensure their car seats are strapped in correctly.
There are about 50 police officers in the city, and they talked to over 250 drivers
“That’s a lot in an eight-hour period. Normally the traffic unit wouldn’t be able to make those contacts. It’s not necessarily the enforcement, it’s the educational and the preventative aspect that we are also looking for,” Young said.
On Wednesday, Cody Luepke was one of those drivers pulled over. Police were very concerned about his completely cracked windshield. That could be a $115.00 ticket, still Luepke sees the value in these check stops.
“I think people need to be safe and have their windshields replaced if they’re cracked. Just general inspections if the cops see something you may not,” Luepke said.
He got lucky this time and was let off with a warning to get his windshield fixed right away.
On Wednesday and Thursday, not everyone was that fortunate and they had to learn the expensive way. Police hope every talk, warning and ticket works in the effort to make roads in Saskatchewan safer.
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