The Tri-Cities has nice weather at the moment, but that may cause some local drivers to forget speed limits in certain areas — school zones in particular.
Earlier today (May 12), one commuter went above and beyond the posted 30 km/h limit near Central Community Elementary in Port Coquitlam.
The radar read 67 km/h when they were travelling by the school at 10:20 a.m. near the intersection of Shaughnessy Street and Central Avenue.
That's 123 per cent faster than the allotted 30 km/h speed limit, which resulted in a violation ticket.
Per ICBC, speeding in a school zone garners a fine between $196 and $253, as well as three points against a driver's license.
Coquitlam RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Alexa Hodgins told the Tri-City News that Mounties conducted traffic enforcement near two schools this morning — Central Community Elementary (2260 Central Ave.) and Citadel Middle (1265 Citadel Dr.).
She said officers on site issued "many warnings" and violation tickets to drivers in those neighbourhoods.
As May is "High Rish Driving Awareness Month" in B.C., Mounties have been out in the community catching local speedsters and educating the public on safe driving.
In May 2022, Coquitlam RCMP issued nearly 260 violation tickets, including 205 for speeding, accounting for an average of roughly eight slips written per day.
The incident near Central Community Elementary publicly shared by police today is the latest in a slate of other recent over-zealous drivers across its jurisdiction.
In fact, on day one of the awareness campaign (May 1), a driver clocked 102 km/h in Port Coquitlam's light industrial area near the intersection of Broadway Street and Industrial Avenue.
That was 52 km/h over the posted 50 zone limit.
"Speed is the number one contributing factor for car crash fatalities," said Hodgins in an earlier statement to the Tri-City News.
"Coquitlam RCMP will be conducting enhanced enforcement aimed at educating the public and targeting high risk driving behaviour — specifically speeding."
Incidents near Central, Citadel
ICBC's latest data shows six known crashes at Shaughnessy Street and Central Avenue between 2017 and 2021, which included property damage, injuries or deaths.
There were also 148 known motor vehicle collisions within a four-block radius of Central Community Elementary in the last five recorded years.
Near Citadel Middle, the provincial corporation tallied only four crashes in that same time span along Citadel Drive between Nova Scotia Avenue and Castle Crescent.
Across the Lower Mainland, 32 people died in 2021 from collisions when speed was a factor.
