Metro Vancouver police hit the streets to crack down on speeding

Metro Vancouver police officers joined the Surrey Police Service for Project Swoop, a crackdown on reckless driving.

Surrey Police Service joined forces with other Metro Vancouver officers on Tuesday to crack down on speeding drivers.

In what the departments are calling Project Swoop, led by ICBC, officers from Surrey, Langley, Delta, and Transit Police were positioned to stop drivers from exceeding the speed limit in an attempt to prevent reckless driving in the Lower Mainland.

ICBC also provided watch teams with speed radar boards along Highway 10 in Surrey, an area that ICBC says is in the top five for car crashes in the province.

“We are seeing about 2600 speed-related collisions each year, with 88 people dying on our roads as a result,” said Karin Klein, ICBC’s Road Safety and Community Coordinator.

Klein went on to explain that approximately 50 per cent of the speed-related crashes involve drivers between the ages of 19 and 35, and nearly 80 per cent are men.

CTV News went with the Surrey Police Service inside one of the cruisers during Project Swoop and witnessed officers pulling several vehicles over for exceeding the speed limit.

Inspector Earl Andersen with the Surrey Police Services’ Road Safety Section explained that the area has seen several deadly collisions in recent months, and many can be prevented if drivers slow down.

“If people just slowed down and obeyed the speed limit, we wouldn’t have these serious collisions and fatalities,” said Insp. Andersen.

He went on to explain that speeding comes with hefty fines and penalties as well.

The fines range from $138 to $483 for excessive speeding or 60 kilometres per hour above the limit.