RCMP say there were no fatalities on Alberta highways over the Thanksgiving long weekend, but police did issue thousands of tickets to drivers not obeying the rules of the road.
As part of Operation Impact 2022 — an initiative organized by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to encourage safe driving behaviours — Alberta RCMP issued 2,653 tickets over the long weekend.
Between Oct. 7 and 10, RCMP said there were no fatalities as a result of collisions across Alberta RCMP jurisdiction. There were 21 collisions that ended in injuries, police said in a news release Thursday morning.
RCMP members handed out 1,328 speeding tickets and 18 excessive speeding tickets for drivers going more than 50 kilometres per hour over the posted speed limit.
Fifty-eight drivers were issued tickets for not wearing seatbelts, and 65 distracted driving tickets were handed out.
RCMP said 88 impaired drivers were removed from the roads.
“Thanks to the help of Albertans, the RCMP received 40 calls from the public notifying them of dangerous or suspected impaired drivers,” Alberta RCMP said in a news release.
“Eleven of these reports resulted in officers locating the vehicles, confirming that the drivers were in fact impaired, and then removing them from the road.”