Deerfoot crackdown
Cops launch crackdown
Police traffic section vows to make a difference on Calgary's terrible turnpike
By MIKE D'AMOUR, Calgary Sun
It's enough to make your grandmother curse harder than the time she was beat out of the blackout bingo by one number.
Using Deerfoot Tr. can be one of the most traumatic driving experiences anywhere in the province.
Anyone who's ever been on the north-south stretch of highway can attest to the number of idiots who somehow obtained a driver's licence and feel the need to hit Warp Factor 9 and put the rest of us at peril.
Now cops -- armed with fresh ticket books and a new motto: It's Deerfoot Tr., Not Leadfoot Tr. -- say enough is enough and are cracking down on Deerfoot doofuses.
"We started yesterday and will be out there for the next two weeks," said Calgary police Const. Mike O'Connor of the traffic section's selected traffic enforcement program.
"We'll be looking for almost everything and anything that's a problem on the Deerfoot," he said.
"We'll be looking for any infraction including problems on and off ramps, failing to yield, improper merging, speeding, tailgating and going too slow, impeding traffic."
Cops will back up photo radar by patrolling in marked and unmarked cars, motorcycles and trucks.
"We'll be putting everything we have out there," O'Connor said.
This won't be the first time cops have launched a Deerfoot crackdown, he added.
"We did it once before, last year," he said. "We handed out hundreds of tickets and unfortunately we'll probably be doing the same thing again this year."
O'Connor said -- surprise, surprise -- there are ongoing complaints and problems with collisions at Deerfoot intersections, Memorial Dr. and 16 Ave. notable among them.
The most tickets issued will probably be for speeding and the fines climb with the speedometer. Travelling 15 km over the limit will cost you $78, 20 over is a $108 touch and 30 km over is a $154 fine.
But over the next two weeks, police will be keeping a close eye on tailgaters.
"The fine is more than $100, but the four points you also get should make people wake up," O'Connor said.
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