RCMP issues 370 tickets for driving offences in 4 days; one driver ticketed nearly $2,000

During traffic enforcement last week, one Saskatchewan driver received fines totalling almost $2,000 and another received two speeding tickets within six minutes of each other.

The Saskatchewan RCMP says those were two of the highlights from a four-day stretch of traffic enforcement by motorcycle officers in west-central Saskatchewan between last Thursday and Sunday.

Six officers with the Saskatchewan RCMP Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan (CTSS) were travelling in and around Battleford, North Battleford, Lloydminster, Meadow Lake and other nearby areas to watch for unsafe driving behaviours.

Officers were watching for cellphone use while driving, passengers not wearing seatbelts, drivers disobeying stop signs and other traffic signage, impaired driving, and speeding — especially in construction zones and near active emergency vehicles.

One driver received a 120-day licence suspension after a breath sample revealed they were driving over the legal limit. The driver was pulled over for going 100 kilometres per hour higher than the posted speed limit of 60 km/h.

The driver also had open liquor in their vehicle when they were pulled over. In total, the driver got a 180-day suspension — because they’d already received a 60-day suspension the day before. Their vehicle was towed and fines totalling $1,948 were issued for open liquor, failing to stop at a red light and speeding.

Another driver pulled over near Lashburn was issued a ticket for driving 133 km/h in a 110 km/h zone. After the driver was allowed to go, they were pulled over again only a mile later for driving 93 km/h while passing an officer conducting a traffic stop on the side of the road (which reduces the speed limit to a 60 km/h zone).

Police say six minutes had elapsed between the driver receiving his first and second tickets, which totalled $710.

Officers issued 370 tickets during their four days of enforcement. Fifty tickets were given to drivers exceeding 60 km/h when passing emergency vehicles, 98 were for seatbelt violations and 35 were given for cellphone usage while driving. One ticket was given out for an impaired driving offence and a total of 279 warnings were given out.