By Sgt. Ed deJong
Columbia Valley RCMP
This past week, September 16 to 23, the Columbia Valley RCMP responded to 70 calls for service. The main event in the valley this week was the Radium ‘Show and Shine’.
The Columbia Valley RCMP and BC Highway Patrol were both in the area to attempt to keep the driving behaviour under control. Over the Friday and Saturday a number of tickets were issued to drivers for speeding, undue care and attention, driving without consideration, among other offences.
The main concern with driving behaviour, specifically the tradition of doing “burnouts” along Hwy 93/95 through Radium and Hwy 93 eastbound toward the park, is the safety of everyone involved. There are many instances you can find on YouTube of burnouts going bad where either the driver loses control and runs down people in the crowd, or the vehicle malfunctions and parts fly off into the crowd causing injuries. These are the incidents the police are attempting to prevent with enforcement action.
There was a large turnout for the event, and other than some major traffic backups on the Saturday morning, there were no serious incidents over the weekend.
I received and appreciated many comments from the participants that were positive toward the police presence and actions taken over the weekend.
