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Complaints prompt Salmon Arm RCMP to stop nearly 500 drivers for various offences

Seventy-seven impaired drivers removed from local roads in last nine months of 2021, police say
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Salmon Arm RCMP put the focus on drivers over the past nine months of 2021. (File photo)

Bad driving on local roads continued as the top complaint to Salmon Arm RCMP throughout most of 2021.

Staff Sgt. Scott West said the local detachment has been targeting drivers committing offences and being discourteous on the roadways.

“In the last nine months (of the year), despite COVID dangers, local officers have stopped and sanctioned 490 drivers for various offences which include intersection offences, speeding, no driver’s licence, and an array of other offences. These officers have also removed 77 impaired drivers from the roads along with over 30 prohibited drivers.”

He said the focus has resulted in fewer serious injury and high-damage collisions.

However, he said, road conditions and heavy snowfall have resulted in an increase to collisions in the past three months. “While not all incidents are reported to the police, there are 120 collisions that RCMP have attended in the past three months,” he said.

“Only 16 of those collisions were major in nature resulting in damage over $10,000 or injury. Approximately 13 of those collisions involved commercial vehicles.”

He said about half of the 13 collisions were due to driver error, but on the part of the other driver.

West implores drivers to slow down and ensure they have good winter tires and other equipment.

“If the roads are poor, consider staying put and allowing the road maintenance crews to clear the roads. It is safer for everyone.”

Read more: Slow down: Salmon Arm RCMP respond to seven collisions over weekend

Read more: Traffic on Highway 1 in Salmon Arm delayed Thursday morning due to collision



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Martha Wickett

About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.
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