EDMONTON -- Edmonton Police Service is asking the Alberta government to introduce steeper penalties for speed demons after officers handed out more than 100 excessive speeding tickets since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
With speeding on the rise since public health orders were put in place to fight COVID-19, city council recently passed a motion for Mayor Don Iveson, and Police Chief Dale McFee to write a letter to the province asking for stiffer penalties to be introduced, including giving police the power to impound vehicles caught travelling more than 50 kilometres an hour over the speed limit.
Police are also asking for the power to automatically impose a driver's license suspension for seven days.
“Alberta is one of the few remaining provinces to not legislate these amendments under Section 115 of the Traffic Safety Act," an EPS spokesperson said in an email.
EPS recently tweeted about a driver who was caught going 156 km/h over the nearly one-kilometre stretch of the High Level Bridge.
That followed a tweet describing another excessive speeding incident resulting in a luxury car ending up on its roof during what appeared to be a race.
“In ordinary times, so to speak, there would be less than a handful of such instances," said Coun. Tim Cartmell, who sits on the Edmonton Police Commission. “I think this would be another deterrent for city police in trying to see this activity diminish.”
In an email to CTV News, Alberta Transportation says it’s “aware of the suggestion as an enforcement option for excessive speeding,” and that it is reviewing the proposal.
There is no timeline as to when the province will come to a decision.
