Speeders fined $18K in just two hours
Fifty speedy drivers at two new construction zones racked up $18,000 worth of tickets in just two hours on Tuesday.
Orange construction zones were set up last weekend to protect workers around the new overpass construction site at Boychuk Drive and Highway 16 and the one at McOrmond Drive and Highway 5, said Staff Sgt. Judy McHarg of the Saskatoon police traffic unit.
“We don’t need any of those construction workers being injured ... That’s why we are out there enforcing, making sure people are aware of the construction zone and what the speeds are. This is the way education happens,” she said.
Fines for exceeding the 60 kilometre-per-hour limit in orange zones are triple the price of normal tickets.
They start at $300 and increase from there, such that the driver of a vehicle going 95 km/h will be dinged $500, she said.
“Speeding and distracted driving are the two main causes of serious injury collisions and fatal collisions ... We crack down on them because that’s what causes all of the heartache.”
Traffic fines, including speeding tickets, bring significant revenue to the city. In 2016, the City of Saskatoon received $2.7 million from the provincial court, which collects the fines, city spokesman Mark Rogstad said.
“Fifty speeding tickets in a construction zone is possible every day,” McHarg said. The orange zones will remain in place for the two years it’s expected to take to complete the two overpasses, she said.
McOrmond Drive was the scene of two other notable speeding mishaps this week. On Tuesday, a 16-year-old caught driving 153 km/h in a 60 km/h zone was issued a $717 fine; the car, his mother’s, was seized for seven days.
On Wednesday, a 47-year-old new driver stepped on the gas instead of the brake and plowed into a restaurant in the 1800 block of McOrmond Drive, sending a 19-year-old restaurant patron to hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening. The driver was fined for driving without due care and attention.