B.C. woman fined $2,300 for speedy Alberta trip

A B.C. woman who was caught driving 215 km/h on a northern Alberta highway has been given the maximum fine for speeding in that province.

RCMP say Samantha Bookey, who is 30 and a resident of Aldergrove in the Lower Mainland, was ordered to pay $2,300 by a justice of the peace in Boyle provincial court in Alberta on Tuesday.

Court heard Bookey was northbound in her Acura TL on Highway 63 on Aug. 14, 2017, when police radar tagged her going 105 km/h over the legal limit.

Police say she told an officer who stopped her that she was in a hurry because she was going to Fort McMurray and was excited about nearing the end of her trip. Mounties also say that during the traffic stop officers learned of a complaint about the same car being driven fast and illegally passing other vehicles close to a school not long before Bookey was pulled over.

She has one year to pay the fine and faces the possibility of 25 days in jail if she fails to meet the deadline.

“She stated that the reason she was speeding was because she was excited about visiting her friend in Fort McMurray and that she was getting close,” said Const. Paul Banks, an RCMP spokesman. Banks said the woman was alone and on a divided, four-lane stretch of highway when she was stopped around dusk.

Bookey was given a court summons, which is issued for speeding offences of more than 50 km/h over the limit. The sentence was handed down after she was convicted at a trial she didn’t attend.