Traffic violations on the rise in Summerside

Summerside Police wrote close to twice as many tickets to drivers in August than they did in July. 

In her report to Summerside Council on Monday evening Coun. Barb Ramsay, chair of the police, fire and emergency committee for the city, said Summerside police laid 186 charges for drivers violating the Highway Traffic Act, 77 for speeding, in the month of August.  

In July, police wrote 98 highway traffic tickets, and 74 in June. 

"It certainly concerns me," said Ramsay of the growing numbers.

While concerning, the increase in tickets doesn't come as a surprise for Ramsay. She said she doesn't think more people are speeding on the roads, just more are getting caught.

"The police told me back in August that they started a new initiative campaign regarding speeding and so that they were going to have officers out in the city way more often, which is awesome because many folks in the city of Summerside are complaining," she said.

Ramsay said it paints a clearer picture of driver behaviour on the streets of Summerside.

"The residents have been coming to us for the last couple of years since I've been on council. It's been a complaint and not just with me, but with all councillors. So we've been bringing that to the police," she said.

"So they put this program in place and hopefully, you know, it continues and that we can get this under control."

Ramsay said that Summerside has been working on initiatives to slow down the traffic in the town, such as adding stop signs and speed bumps.

"It's nice to see that the city's working on the same kind of project that the police officers are," she said.

Police also responded to 31 traffic accidents and three impaired driving offences in the city in August.

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