Police

Quoted from the document's introduction: "ETEP, which delivers almost $30 million over and above regular BC road safety enforcement resources for initiatives such as dedicated traffic enforcement, automated intersection enforcement, vehicle crime suppression, police overtime and special enforcement campaigns such as impaired driving CounterAttack. The program also funds communications for targeted traffic enforcement campaigns, police training, and secretariat support for police traffic committees."

Have you been surveyed about police traffic enforcement in BC? The survey has been conducted annually since 2006 and has been used to measure public perception of, and support of, police traffic enforcement in BC. The information collected also informs the Ministry of Justice's Road Safety Unit in its efforts to evaluate, target and determine road safety enforcement priorities and programs .

The publisher's commentary in the January 2013 edition of Blue Line Magazine takes a position that I strongly agree with. The police are responsible for traffic safety. If there are no consequences for bad driving behaviour, then there is no need to behave properly.

Every year on the first of January I restart the collision counter on the DriveSmartBC web site. In order to try and keep it accurate I check ICBC's latest collision statistics, calculate the daily average and tweak the code that produces the display. This year, I can't get data on the number of people injured by impaired drivers.

We live in a wonderful country where violence is still something relatively rare. If we are stopped by the police we tend not to worry and dig out our driver's license and vehicle registration wherever it might be in the vehicle. Some people even get out and walk back to the police car to see what is going on. These actions are meant to be polite and save time but today are not the right thing to do.