At Veterans Memorial Park in Langford, Colleen Woodger of ICBC Road Safety laid out 500 pairs of shoes in the shape of Vancouver Island to illustrate the impact of high-risk driving.
Consider yourself warned: Police will be out full force this month ticketing drivers with high-risk driving habits.
Speeding, failing to yield at four-way stops or roundabouts, following too closely, running stop lights and improper passing are some of the offenses they’ll be watching for.
Const. Marc Julien with West Shore RCMP traffic services said he’s noticed more rushed drivers on the road with all the construction sites popping up in the region.
“People want to bypass the construction and are speeding up back roads, where they should be going 30,” Julien said. “We want people to know we’re going to be out there watching, but we also want them to know why.”
To spread the word on the impact of risky driving, police have teamed up with ICBC.
On Tuesday Colleen Woodger of ICBC Road Safety laid out 500 pairs of shoes in the shape of Vancouver Island to help illustrate how many people are injured each year in crashes.
“You’d actually have to imagine 20 times this number of shoes to have a pair for every injury,” Woodger said, citing the average number of injuries as 10,100 per yearâequivalent to 27 per dayâon Vancouver Island alone.
“The shoes help personalize the statistics,” Woodger explained, looking over the rows of footwear of all sizes and styles, from fuzzy slippers to gumboots. “People can look at them and see a pair they might wear.”
RCMP Sgt. Joe Schofield of Central Vancouver Island Traffic Services said it’s the children’s shoes that are the hardest for him to see.
“Often its a passenger who pays the price for unsafe driving,” he said. “In 30 years of police work, I’ve seen the consequence of bad driving. I’ve had to knock on doors of next of kin to tell them there’s been an accident.”
Langford coun. Lanny Seaton echoed the sergeant’s sentiment, recalling his 10 years as a volunteer firefighter.
“When you have to go to an accident with the jaws of life and take a child out of a vehicle, that really drives the message home,” Seaton said. “People need to just give themselves more time and slow down on the roads.”
The high-risk driving campaign will continue through May, with particular attention on the roads during the Victoria Day long weekend.
For more information on safe driving and to test your skills on an interactive game, visit www.icbc.com/drivesmart.