The Speed Watch Program will be in effect in Vernon school zones starting April 1 at 7:30 a.m.
“The purpose of the Speed Watch Program is to enhance road safety and educate drivers” says Regan Borisenko, City of Vernon Crime Prevention Coordinator. “This is done by increasing the level of awareness around issues of unsafe speed and distracted driving, and reducing the incidents of speeding by reflecting drivers’ speed and reinforcing the speed limit in that zone.”
Trained RCMP volunteers use digital speed reader boards and a radar unit and concentrate on areas where speeding is a major hazard. These volunteers will be initially concentrating on school zones in order to keep the motoring public aware of the change in speed now that students are back in class.
“There will be occasions when our Speed Watch operatives work with the Vernon RCMP members,” said Borisenko. “These two-strike operations may land drivers a ticket should they choose to ignore the RCMP volunteer operation.”
The program is coordinated by the Vernon Community Safety Unit and is operated by RCMP volunteers throughout the Vernon area in support of ICBC and their Road Sense initiative.