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Saanich Police bust 40 distracted drivers in five hours

Police continue March campaign to enforce against distracted drivers
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A Saanich Police officer issues a $368 ticket for distracted driving during a morning campaign at Quadra and McKenzie in 2018. (Black Press file photo)

The most surprising result of Saanich Police’s Monday morning campaign to look for distracted drivers was that an hour into the five hour effort, they warned everyone it was going to happen.

On Monday morning Saanich Police’s Traffic division tweeted out a warning that they would be conducting distracted driving enforcement.

READ MORE: BC sees drop in distracted driving tickets

“With all the media attention, and with me giving U the inside scoop we won’t catch anyone right?…..RIGHT!?!? Tune in tomorrow for the exciting results!” the tweet read.

Five hours later Saanich Police tweeted the results.

“Spoiler alert, the results are in! How did Saanich do? Terrible! 5 hours of cell phone enforcement = 42 tickets and one impaired driver. .”

To be exact, 40 of the 42 tickets were for a $368 distracted driving fine. One was issued for not wearing a seatbelt and the other for driving through a red light, said Saanich Police Const. Adam Defrane of the Traffic Safety Unit.

Saanich Police has run similar projects at the same intersections as they did on Monday.

In total, six Saanich Police officers were part of the Monday morning project from 7 a.m. until noon. It was coordinated in conjunction with ICBC. The officers walked along the sidewalks and streets to monitor drivers at the intersections of McKenzie and Quadra, Pat Bay at Ravine, Shelbourne at McKenzie and Shelbourne at Cedar Hill Cross.

ICBC also tweeted on Monday that from Feb. 1 of 2010 to Dec. 30 of 2018, 240,000 drivers have received one violation ticket, 39,000 have received two violations and 15,000 have received three to five, while 1,300 drivers have received six ore more.

reporter@saanichnews.com


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