The Integrated Road Safety Unit (IRSU) from Vancouver was on the Sunshine Coast last weekend conducting a road safety traffic blitz.
And despite all the information regarding distracted driving, drivers on the Sunshine Coast still are not getting the message as 23 drivers were ticketed for using a cell phone while driving.
The other highest violation noted by officers was seat belt use as 50 tickets were issued. Other violations included not having a valid driver's licence (12), driving contrary to licence restrictions (five), no vehicle insurance (five), and several prohibited driving charges.
The IRSU is a provincially mandated and funded unit that covers the Greater Vancouver area including the Pitt River Bridge to Pemberton, north side of the Fraser River, Richmond and the Sunshine Coast. The unit is made up of five police forces including the RCMP, Vancouver Police Department, New Westminster Police Service, West Vancouver Police Department and Port Moody Police Department.
"We are enhanced enforcement with a primary mandate to decrease fatality and serious injury crashes in the areas we are responsible for, by doing enforcement on the main causes of harm including distracted driving, seat belts, impaired driving, intersections and aggressive driving," said Staff Sgt. Marc Alexander, unit commander for IRSU-GV. "We had five members of our unit there from July 5 to July 8. All of our members are trained on the approved screening device, used to detect impaired driving and we also deployed an automatic licence plate recognition (ALPR) unit. ALPR's are extremely valuable for the apprehension of unlicenced and prohibited drivers, un-insured vehicles and stolen vehicles."
Seawatch Lane still closed
The District of Sechelt anticipates a geotechnical report on the sinkhole in Seawatch Lane to be completed soon.
"In conjunction with various experts, the District is conducting a detailed assessment of geotechnical issues in the affected area," a press release from the District said. "The situation is being monitored with the resources that are reasonably available to the District."
Once the assessment is done District will discuss the findings with residents in the area. In the meantime Seawatch Lane remains closed to vehicle traffic.
