Members of the Prince George RCMP were at the Hart Highway this afternoon (Tuesday) to urge the public to drive safely this Winter.
Cpl. Jennifer Cooper said there were a number of collisions on the Hart Highway in November, including one fatal incident.
“This stretch of road, we do see a lot of speeders, I know locally it’s known as the Hart-obaun,” Cooper said, speaking about the Hart.
“Lots of Facebook groups post regularly, and I do receive a lot of social media feedback about just how fast and often dangerously people are driving on this road.”
Cooper said during this time of year, roads can be slick, and there’s not a lot of daylight
“It’s dark until after you’ve dropped the kids off at school, and it’s dark again before you pick them up. Even when it is daylight, conditions aren’t great. It could be blowing snow, it could be raining like crazy, so we just have to make sure we’re taking extra care.”
“We’re here to enforce the message that road safety is everybody’s concern,” Cooper said.
“As a community we need to be making sure we’re working together to make sure that everyone makes it home safe. Whether you’re a driver or a pedestrian, you have to make sure you’re making the right choices to make sure everyone is safe on the roads.”
Doug MacDonald ICBC Road Safety and Community Coordinator was on hand to give tips for drivers and pedestrians.
“This time of year, we’re starting to see winter kind of get into it’s cold stuff. We’re getting the snow, we’ve seen the ice, and we’re getting the cold frigid temperatures, we really need to adjust our driving behaviour,” MacDonald said
MacDonald gave the following tips for Winter driving.
- Give yourself an extra ten minutes to get to where you’re going
- Make sure you warm up your vehicle
- Sweep off the vehicle, make sure the windows are clean before you leave
- Get Winter tires on your vehicle if you haven’t already
- Slow down, scan intersections for pedestrians
MacDonald said pedestrians should make themselves visible by wearing reflective vests, or other reflective gear once it get’s dark.
December is CounterAttack month for ICBC and the RCMP.