Five people died over Victoria Day long weekend this year, which BC Highway Patrol (BCHP) says is a “dark return to form.”
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin says speed and “bad judgement” were factors in some of those fatalities.
“As drivers, we need to understand that we’re not the exception,” McLaughlin said.
“We need to slow down. We need to follow those rules to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.”
The province’s highways saw no fatalities over the May long weekend last year, according to BCHP data, while 2024 and 2023 recorded three and four deaths, respectively.
“The excessive speeding tickets that BC Highway Patrol is way up, that shows that as a province we are not making the best decisions behind the wheel. And excessive speeding is one of those things that can directly be linked to fatalities,” said McLaughlin.
The excessive speeding that the BCHP is seeing is troubling as McLaughlin states that drivers are not prepared for hazards that can occur on the roadways at those speeds.
“There is no driver who is skilled enough who can make up for all the unpredictable things that happen on our highway. And then when you look at those fatalities that we’ve seen, those five fatalities over the May long weekend, a lot of them are tied to speed.”
Along with the five fatalities that the May long weekend saw, there were many incidents of taking drivers off the road due to speeding, no insurance, driving while impaired, and drivers who did not have licences.
McLaughlin explains that the penalties for speeding can be quite extensive.
“You’re going to face immediate roadside penalties. You’re going to get a ticket that could be up to $500 on the spot. Your vehicle will be automatically impounded.”
“That means you pay for the tow, you pay for the likely seven days of impound, plus you’re going to face high risk driver premiums for three years. We are talking a total of bill that approaches $2500 for a single incident of excessive speeding.”
BCHP constantly reviews data to know which areas need to be targeted for enforcement and what risks there are to drivers.
“BC Highway Patrol officers are constantly being led by the intelligence which we gather from data. When we see these numbers go up, it’s certainly a concern, and we are looking at everything we can do in terms of redeploying resources, doing different checks, going to different areas so that we can bring these numbers down.”
But without the cooperation of drivers, who need to understand that driving the speed limit makes surviving an accident on the roads much easier, all the enforcement is not going to change behaviour.
As for areas that see the most issues, McLaughlin points to the South Coast.
“Speeding is a problem everywhere, but one of the most concerning increases we’ve seen right here in the South Coast, what we call the Lower Mainland, the Sea to Sky, the Sunshine Coast. We are seeing too many local drivers drive too quickly.”
McLaughlin finds this extra concerning as there is so much more volume of traffic in the Metro Vancouver roads.
“It’s us, look in the mirror. We’re the ones that need to slow down.”