The Central Traffic Services Section ran an enforcement program in the Battlefords last week, resulting in numerous charges and warnings. (File Photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

Curbing Bad Drivers

Traffic enforcement program results in numerous infractions

Oct 28, 2020 | 3:59 PM

The results are in from a traffic enforcement program run in the Battlefords from October 21-23.

Rosetown and Melfort Traffic Services Section ran the program, as part of the Central Traffic Services Section. Made of units from across Saskatchewan, the CTSS includes numerous municipal policing agencies and looks to enhance traffic safety in communities without their own units and supplement those areas. Staff Sgt. Jason Teniuk said these programs occur randomly throughout the year and it wasn’t anything to do with the local detachment, saying their detachment resourcing stays the same.

“It’s just an opportunity to support our local CTSS unit,” he said. “We do have a local unit in town here, made up of considerable less members than what would have been involved in this.”

“There’s an enforcement aspect, an educational aspect and it comes across in various different ways.”

Over the course of three days, there was a numbers of infractions, which included 76 charges, 91 warnings and 10 impounded vehicles. Of the 76 charges, 48 were for speeding, 13 for driving while using a cell phone and 15 for tinted front side windows.

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“The rear passengers doors on a four door vehicle can be tinted, but the front driver and passenger windows cannot,” Teniuk said.

The warnings used included exceeding the speed limit (18), failing to carry a driver’s license (18), failing to produce vehicle registration (30) and having a cracked windshield greater than two inches (25).

Teniuk said most of the numbers are typical for this kind of program, particularly speeding. However, one item that was a bit abnormal and cause for concern was the 13 drivers using their phones. The fine for a first offence is $580, a second offence within a year of the first is $1,400.

“That message needs to get across loud and clear,” Teniuk said. “The use of a cell phone while your driving is not safe, there’s a reason the penalties are that high.”

Seven suspended drivers were charged and there were two charges for open alcohol and cannabis being consumed inside a vehicle. In addition to provincial traffic laws, several drivers were charged under the criminal code. This included obstruction, driving while suspended by the Criminal Code, fleeing police, dangerous driving, breach of probation and weapons possession.

“Even though it seems they are targeting people going about their daily business, we are pulling a lot of people off the road who have no business being on the road, to be brutally honest,” Teniuk said.

And those types of arrests and fines that occur from these planned programs, which occur randomly throughout the year in numerous communities around the province, also make a difference for local detachments, according to Teniuk.

“Our call volume goes down substantially when they are here.”

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josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports