Road safety program to coincide with end of Spring break

A program reminding drivers to slow down and abide the rules of the road is about to return.

The RCMP's spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the Speed Watch Program will kick-off April 2nd "at a school near you."

The program operates in support of ICBC and their Road Sense initiative. The program is coordinated by the Vernon Safe Communities Unit and is operated by RCMP members and Citizens Patrol volunteers throughout the Vernon area.
  
The purpose of the Speed Watch program is to enhance road safety and educate drivers. 

"This is done by increasing the level of awareness surrounding the issues of unsafe speed and distracted driving and reducing the incidents of speeding by reflecting drivers speed and reinforcing the speed limit in that zone," Molendyk says.

"Our trained volunteers use digital speed reader boards and a radar unit and concentrate on areas where speeding is a major hazard."

Volunteers will first concentrate on school zones in order to remind the motoring public that  students are back in class after their spring break. Citizens Patrol volunteers and police will work side-by-side during the program.
 
"These 2-strike operations may land you a ticket should you choose to ignore the speed that is shown on our display board and slow down," Molendyk says.
 
"Expect to see Speed Watch Operations around the City of Vernon and please remember these volunteers are actively working to make our city a safer place to work, raise children and live."

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helsotn at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call (250)309-5230.