HIGHWAY ROBBERY
Driver warning as crackdown lands over $15k fines in just two days – 42 drivers even have cars impounded
One driver was caught going triple the speed limit
TRAFFIC enforcement officers targeted high-traffic parts of a major city to crackdown on speeding - 42 tickets totaled $15,686 in fines.
All 42 drivers were fined and their cars were impounded for a week.
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The Canadian city of Abbotsford, British Columbia, had a very serious problem with speeding.
The city suffers from multiple "high-traffic" corridors where drivers were regularly speeding well above the posted limit.
At one point, the Abbotsford Police recorded a driver going 91 mpg in a 35 mph zone, according to Vancouver City News.
First-offense tickets are typically $138 but can be as high as $483 depending on a few variables.
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Any ticket adds up to three points on a driver's license.
According to recent data, the province sees 84 people perish every year from speeders.
Therefore nearly 30% of all fatal crashes in British Columbia are from exceeding the speed limit, AbbyPD wrote in a press release.
More than 2,000 are seriously injured in crashes that happen as car lose control or are unable to stop from speeding.
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Therefore, AbbyPD was eager to kick off a 48-hour crackdown on speeders frequenting certain parts of the city.
Dangerous driving crackdown sees 69 drivers ticketed and 2 arrests – amid pleas area ‘doesn’t need to be racetrack’
Officers were surprised by the result.
In those two days, officers stopped 42 drivers speeding excessively.
By focusing their efforts during the crackdown, officers stopped almost one car per hour.
AbbyPD reported the average fine during the window was a whopping $373.
Each of the drivers, after they were cited, had their vehicles impounded for an entire week.
After the crackdown, the PD calculated up to $15,686 in fines.
How to fight a speeding ticket
According to a legally reviewed post, there are five effective strategies to fighting a speeding ticket if it was wrongfully issued.
- If pulled over and issued a ticket, drivers can argue or dispute a driver's personal opinion. When issuing a speeding ticket, an officer is required to write their opinion and come to an "objective" conclusion. If the ticket was written based on that judgment, it can be contested. An example would be if you were going 75 mph in a 65 mph zone because others were traveling at the same speed, you could argue that it would be more dangerous to travel at 65 mph.
- You can dispute the officer's presentation of evidence. If you were ticketed for something like running a stop sign or making an illegal u-turn, you can't contest that if an officer saw you, but you can call things into court like eyewitnesses, diagrams, or photos.
- Argue that the ticket was issued by a "mistake of fact." This is tricky, but a "mistake of fact" is a mistake made by a driver about a situation that was beyond their control, or if a driver legitimately did not know they were violating the law. For example, you were driving in two lanes because the lane markers were so worn down that you could not see them.
- You could say circumstances justified your driving. You could say you were speeding to pass a possibly drunk driver, or avoiding an accident by rapidly changing lanes. However, the argument won't work if there's proof you continued to speed after passing.
- Similar to the above, it could be argued that speeding was necessary to avoid harm. The key is to argue that if you weren't speeding, you or someone else could have been harmed.
- Consult a traffic attorney, if all else fails. Many have free consultations to decide whether or not there's a case.
Source: FindLaw
Abbotsford isn't the only Canadian city that has been putting serious effort into curbing excessive speeders.
In Ontario, officers sharpened their focus to catch speeders during the Canada Day Week campaign to catch dangerous drivers across the province.
Between June 21 to July 1, officers wrote 8,421 speeding tickets and 224 tickets for stunt driving.
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Additionally, officers calculated a saddening 447 tickets for impaired driving, and 173 for distracted driving.
Over 1,200 tickets were written to drivers who failed to wear a seatbelt while driving.