By Times Chronicle Staff

After a tragic week on BC roads between July 5-10 which saw 19 people die in several different road accidents, BC Highway Patrol (BCHP) is pleading with drivers around the province to slow down.

Among those accidents were four adults from the same family who died in a collision east of Keremeos on July 10, a family of three killed including an infant on Lougheed Highway near Agassiz on July 9, and a dozen other fatalities across the province.

Highlighting the uptick in speeding the BCHP alone has issued 132 violation tickets and counting for excessive speed. 

“Every driver needs to realize that the consequences for excessive speeding go far beyond getting an expensive ticket and your vehicle impounded. You have far less time to react to anything when going that fast which is why excessive speed is so deadly,” cautioned Insp. Chad Badry, the acting Operations Officer for BC Highway Patrol.

Among the examples cited by the BCHP between July 8-15 officers in the Central Okanagan area stopped 40 drivers for excessive speed, which is considered more than 40 kph over the posted speed limit.

Other examples include:

  • July 9 – a white Corvette doing 213 kph in a 100 kph zone on Highway 1 near Langley.
  • July 11 – a motorcyclist on Highway 3A near Castlegar was clocked at 142 kph in a 70 kph zone. The driver had a motorcycle learner’s license and was breaching restrictions to have a supervisor and not ride over 60 kph.
  • July 14 – a blue 4-door sedan and red motorcycle travelling through the heart of Squamish at over 140 kph in the posted 70 kph zone. The vehicle was impounded making it the third one impounded in one day by Squamish BCHP.
  • July 14 – a vehicle travelling 122 kph in a 60 kph zone on Highway 91/17 Connector in Delta.
  • July 14 – a Volkswagen Jetta travelling at 122 kph in a 70 kph zone on Hwy. 97 near Prince George driven by an unlicensed and without insurance. Two days earlier another driver of a BMW from Alberta was stopped for driving 212 kph in a 100 zone on the same highway.

All of these drivers were issued violation tickets between $368 and $483 and the vehicles were impounded for seven days.