HIGH RISK DRIVING MONTH

High Risk Driving Month campaign underway to slow down drivers

May 10, 2021 | 4:54 PM

PRINCE GEORGE–It’s the second week of High Risk Driving Month, a collaborative campaign between the ICBC and police departments in the province to spread awareness on the dangers of speeding.

On average, 81 people in B.C. die in car crashes where speeding was a factor. 15 of those come from the Northern region, which is a number that could be much lower.

“We often say it’s the other person that’s driving out there that’s driving erratically, they’re going too fast but we need to look at our own driving behavior.” said Doug MacDonald, ICBC Road and Safety Community Coordinator.

MacDonald says that the biggest thing people could to reduce their risk of an accident is better planning.

“Everybody’s in a hurry to get to where they’re going. If we just left a few minutes earlier, we’d reduce that chance of needing to speed to get to where we’re going and we’d arrived safer and more relaxed.”

Along with ICBC, Prince George RCMP is also working with the Citizens on Patrol program and the Traffic Services Unit in areas where drivers tend to speed more often.

Police say in the last week, they’ve ticketed three drivers with fines of at least $190. They say some drivers went nearly double the speed limit.

Both authorities agree that the warmer weather is playing a role in the increase presence of speeders. But the ICBC says that as the weather changes, so can the road conditions.

“As we know, We could have road conditions change at anytime, we had some snow on Friday, we got rain as well. So we’re kinda on a bit of a shoulder season before the summer months.”

With school almost coming to an end, officials want to drivers to be extra cautious of people crossing the street.