Police laid 62 traffic charges in Martensville during the month of July, 2020, compared to 13 in July, 2019.
That’s a 377% increase.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean drivers have gone berserk over the past year. It’s actually a result of increased enforcement, according to Martensville RCMP Sergeant Curtis Little.
In a report to the Martensville City Council committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday, August 11, Little said the spike in charges last month in Martensville was not unexpected.
“We had a partnership with the Combined Traffic Services unit for a few days,” said Little. “Most of those traffic-related charges were laid as a result of incidents on Main Street and Centennial Drive, as well as Highway 12.”
The majority of infractions last month involved speeding (24) and seat belt violations (21). There was one incident of a prohibited driver operating a vehicle, 10 “non-moving” vehicles, and six intersection infractions.
There were also four impaired driving charges in Martensville in July, 2020, compared with none in July, 2019.
Martensville City Councillor Bob Blackwell welcomed the emphasis on traffic enforcement.
“A couple weeks ago we got a lot of compaints from people who said they never saw a police officer in town; that they had no visibility,” said Blackwell during the council meeting. “Now we’re getting a different set of complainers who are saying ‘leave us alone.’
“All I can say is, keep writing those tickets.”
The RCMP report to city council also showed there had been an increase in the number of incidents of assaults in Martensville (four in July, 2020 compared to none in July, 2019).
Combined Traffic Services has an office in Martensville and is an integrated unit made up of police officers from the RCMP F Division and Saskatoon Police Service (SPS).
The creation of the Combined Traffic Service units came as a recommendation from the Saskatchewan Legislature all-party traffic safety report and when the laws for distracted, impaired and excessive speeding changed to include harsher penalties. Each unit consists of 30 officers, 15 from existing provincially funded positions and 15 new officers funded by SGI. Of these, 50 officers (25 per unit) are RCMP officers and 10 (5 per unit) are SPS members. These two units enforce traffic laws on highways in central and southeastern Saskatchewan.