By Liam Verster

Fewer fines issued than in previous years

COVID-19 restrictions led to fewer bylaw, traffic tickets issued in the County of Grande Prairie

Mar 25, 2021 | 3:42 PM

With people moving their work to home offices and not going out as much due to COVID-19 restrictions, the County of Grande Prairie’s Regional Enforcement Services noted a significant decrease in traffic and bylaw violations.

Regional Enforcement Services delivered their annual report to County of Grande Prairie Council on Monday, who accepted the report for information.

Sergeant Stuart Fry says, compared to the previous year, the amount of tickets issued was down significantly.

“In 2020 we issued 2,614 violation tickets, that is down from 2019 where we issued 4,353.”

The fines related to those tickets were also significantly lower. In 2020, officers issued $978,000 worth of fines compared to $1.24-million in 2019. The amount of tickets paid were also lower at $284,000 compared with $428,000 in 2019.

Call logs and regional animal pound intakes were also lower in 2020 than in previous years.

However, occurrence stats did increase from 1,969 in 2019 to 2,313 in 2020, as did trials, which rose from 224 in 2019 to 369 in 2020.

Of those trials, 217 (57 per cent) were found guilty, 140 (38 per cent) were dismissed as a result of COVID-19, and just 12 (three per cent) were found not guilty.

The charges related to the tickets issued in 2020 were mainly attributed to provincial traffic safety/infrastructure offences, which made up 87.5 per cent of the violations. Other provincial statute violates made up eight per cent; gaming, liquor and cannabis related charges accounted for three per cent; and the final 1.5 per cent were bylaw related offences.

Though overall violations were down, Fry says officers saw people travelling at near record-high speeds compared to previous years’ cases because there was less traffic on the road.

“Some of the higher speeds we came in contact (with) were, for example, (an individual going) 210 kilometres an hour in a posted 110 zone; we [saw] 97 kilometres an hour in a posted 30 school zone; 170 kilometres an hour in an 80 zone; and 105 in a posted 60 construction zone with workers present.”

Fry adds it was a challenging year as operations were adjusted to reduce in-person contact, and by using personal protective equipment and following provincial health measures in the cases that needed in-person involvement.

He also says there were no tickets related to COVID-19 violations in 2020, though there were a handful of cases where officers had to make contact with individuals not complying with the Quarantine Act and COVID-19 regulations and use an education-first approach in handling the situations, which led to those people then following the laws.

So far in 2021, Fry says violations have been comparable to the past year, but as things open back up and people start moving, Regional Enforcement Services may note an increase in offences, though Fry says he hopes to see the rates stay low in the coming months.