Increased emphasis on traffic enforcement, combined with community involvement and the use of technology are key reasons behind a 33 per cent increase in Provincial Offences Act charges issued by Chatham-Kent police last year.
Chatham-Kent Police Service issued 8,851 tickets compared to 6,622 the year before. The traffic unit alone laid 32 per cent of those.
Deputy Chief Jeff Littlewood said the CKPS traffic unit has stepped up its efforts and is benefitting from community input.
“We’re getting more input from residents about speeding on a particular road or dangerous driving habits; we can use that information,” he said.
He noted turnover on traffic unit has also helped.
“We have a number of officers from the unit who are now on general patrol again and they’ve retained the training they received,” he said. “Even though they aren’t part of traffic, they still play a key role.”
The value of tickets issues last year was a fraction below $900,000, at $898,784. In 2014 fines with a dollar value of $839,564 were assessed.
The municipality doesn’t receive all the funds since victim surcharge on fines is paid to the province and the police pay collection costs on others.
A total of 381 tickets remained outstanding. Unpaid fines can result in not being able to renew drivers’ licenses.
There were 10 life threatening and five fatal accidents last year, compared with five and seven respectively the year before.
None of last year’s fatalities involved alcohol.
Littlewood said joint efforts with the provincial transportation ministry last year resulted in 224 total charges against commercial drivers and vehicles.
“We’re particularly concerned about the safety violations because a large commercial vehicle has the potential of causing greater damage and injury if it’s in a collision,” he said.
Littlewood noted that there are currently an estimated 5,000 drivers with suspended licenses in Chatham-Kent with reasons ranging from unpaid fines, medical conditions, non-payment of support orders and other reasons.
