Better late than speeding, police say as another driver has licence suspended

Another driver has lost his licence for driving too fast, after police caught him travelling at more than 150 km/h on the Trans-Canada Highway near St. John's at noon on Monday.

On top of the suspension, the 18-year-old had his vehicle impounded, and will have to pay a ticket.

It's just the latest example of an ongoing problem on the northeast Avalon.

On Valentine's Day, the RNC stopped a driver going 167 km/h, handing out one of 33 tickets issued by police in just two hours.

The day before, RNC handed out 15 tickets in 90 minutes on the Team Gushue Highway, and the day before that, 28 drivers were ticketed within three hours — including one clocked going 57 km/h over the speed limit on the TCH near Allandale Road.

But it's not just happening on the Avalon, and it has police calling for everyone to start driving more safely.

Trans-Labrador Highway speeding

RCMP in Labrador say they write more tickets for speeding than for any other offence under the Highway Traffic Act, and Const. Jerry Goudie told CBC Radio's Labrador Morning speed is a contributing factor in most crashes.

"We can go out on the highway and say we're never going to write a ticket today unless we see somebody going 130 km/h, and we will still write tickets," said Goudie, who is with the Happy Valley-Goose Bay detachment.

Goudie spends his time patrolling central Labrador including the Trans-Labrador Highway, which boasts some of the roughest roads in the province.

But despite the tough conditions, he says speeding is still a real problem.

"People will say, 'Well, it's a highway, y'know, it should be 100 kilometres an hour,'" he said. "Well, it's not a designed 100-kilometre-an-hour highway. It's designed by a civil engineer who designed the highway with the shoulder width to be a certain width apart, and it's designed for 80 kilometres an hour."

It's not just people speeding through the isolated Labrador wilderness.

Goudie says people tear through town as well, sometimes double the limit — hitting 120 km/h in 60 km/h zones.

The way to stop that, Goudie says, is education.

"As a parent right now, as a grandparent, you probably taught your child that it's OK," he said. "You're teaching your child right now by driving. If you've got a 10-year-old in your vehicle, you're teaching your child how to drive by driving them around town, by rolling stop signs, by going excessive speeds, by passing when it's not safe to do so. Your child is watching."

"Just be late," he said. "If you're gonna be late, just be late."

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