Motorists zipping through Turner Valley at high speeds have officers ramping up enforcement this summer.
Trever Bowman, Turner Valley’s peace officer supervisor, said his crew has written 165 tickets since June 1, almost half of which were for exceeding the posted speed limit within town.
“We definitely see an increase in our traffic volumes with the pandemic because people are not leaving on summer holidays like they normally would be – they’re basically visiting their own backyard,” he said. “We are seeing a spike, especially on nice weekends, of substantially higher traffic volumes coming through town.”
The spike in traffic has prompted an increase in high-risk driving behaviours, with motorists travelling 20, 30 and sometimes more than 50 km/h over the speed limit - doubling the posted speed limit on some streets, Bowman said.
“We have seen speeds of up to 120 km/h within Turner Valley,” he said. “The areas of concern right now are Sunset Boulevard out to Highway 546 towards the Kananaskis and 16th Avenue. The majority of the people we’re stopping are not from this area, therefore they don’t have a vested interest in the safety of our community.”
To address the problem, Bowman said peace officer presence has increased particularly on weekends when traffic volumes are higher.
“We have our members out patrolling and enforcing the Traffic Safety Act,” he said. “We’re doing our best to curb high risk driving behaviours.”
Turner Valley RCMP are addressing the problem on the highways outside of town.
“We’ve gone from our COVID lockdown - everybody stay inside - to the weather getting nicer and people getting out and about more,” said Staff Sgt. Laura Akitt. “Roadway volume is definitely increasing. With that comes speed.”
The Turner Valley detachment responded to two accidents involving motorbikes on Highway 546 recently – one on July 7 when a 24-year-old Calgary man was killed in a single-motorcycle collision and another June 9 involving two Calgary motorbike drivers who were injured when their bikes collided near the Sandy McNabb camping area. Akitt said speed was a factor in both incidents, and two men were charged with riding without supervision and careless driving under the Traffic Safety Act in the June incident.
“In one scenario there were indications of speeds of up to 180 to 200 km/h,” she said. “There are some really nice highways for motorbikes to ride in this area. It’s a motorbike destination route.”
Akitt hopes cracking down on speeding infractions will curtail the problem.
“Speed is a huge concern to me and people need to slow down, people need to be respectful of other motorists on the roadways,” she said. “Failing to do so can result in speeding fines within the communities or on the provincial highways.”
Akitt said motorists need to realize that split-second decisions could have disastrous consequences, not just for themselves but for other motorists.
Turner Valley Mayor Barry Crane said the recent motorcycle fatality is bringing more light to the situation of speeding in the Turner Valley area.
“Our beautiful stretch of road is a hot spot for motorcycles and sports cars,” he said. “We definitely want to address the speeding issue before it becomes more of a problem.”
Crane said he’s well aware of motorists travelling 100km/h in 50 km/h zones within town, and that the behaviour as unacceptable.
“The travel restrictions and staycations have increased our local population during the summer,” he said. “We all live in our town because we want to be away from the big city and we want to be part of a small town feel.”
Crane is also concerned about motorists speeding in playground zones, which are now bustling with children.
“When the sun is low, those are peak times when accidents can happen,” said the father of two. “That’s why we need to be aware of it, especially with the increase in kids outside playing. Your neighbours are my kids and my kids are your neighbours and we don’t want to have accidents when it’s so simple to just slow down.”
Texting while driving is another concern of Crane’s, which he said is rampant in the area.
“It’s worse than drinking and driving,” he said. “People need to understand that it seems like an innocent enough thing, but it is dangerous.”
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