80 fines issued in 2 days, says Queens District RCMP

A new initiative by Queens District RCMP haslead to more than 80 speeding fines in the last two days.

The RCMP partnered with Provincial Highway Safety Enforcement members to increase patrols Wednesday and Thursday.

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"We found that there has been a lot of excessive speeding," said Sgt. Leanne Butler.

About 50 speeding tickets were issued on Wednesday.

On Thursday, 31 were given out in just over an hour in the Milton, P.E.I.area alone.

'Thinking outside the box'

Queen's District RCMP had more officers on the road, in more areas than usual, including Cornwall, Tracadie and Oyster Bed Bridge.

"We decided to think out of the box," said Butler.

Butler said speeding happens at all times of the day, but for this exercise, officers focused on commuter traffic.

"Yesterday a lot of people tried to use the excuse that they were late for work and that's why they were speeding," she said.

Butler said initiatives like this areabout keeping Islanders safe.

"Speeding or aggressive driving does cause a high number of deaths in Canada. That's a well known fact. That's one of the road safety initiatives for all of Canada and you know what, Islanders are speeding and by slowing down, you may save your life or somebody else's."

Reaching out online

The RCMP is also reaching out on social media in their "It's Not A Race Out There Campaign."

It's asking the public to tell themabout areas where they've seen a lot of speeding.

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