“When you’re standing by the side of the highway and a vehicle passes you traveling at the speed limit, or higher, it’s very intimidating.” That, from Sgt. Erin Lockyer of RCMP Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan for Yorkton, Broadview and Fort Qu’Appelle. He says, “The faster the passing vehicle is going and the bigger it is, like a semi, it creates almost a vacuum where you feel like you are going to get sucked down the highway with them.”

A two-day joint traffic safety initiative took place in April on major highways around the communities of Yorkton and Melville. The primary focus was on identifying vehicles passing emergency vehicles at speeds higher than 60 km/hr.
57 warnings were issued to drivers for various driving-related offences. 12 speeding tickets issued. 22 tickets issued for failure to slow to 60 km/hr when passing emergency vehicles with their emergency equipment activated, along with multiple warnings
Lockyer says, “ I was a Collision Reconstructionist for 15+ years and I know all too well what a vehicle can do to a pedestrian.”

$230 is the base fine, plus $4 per km over the limit of 60 km/h when passing emergency vehicles, for up to 30 km/h over the limit. If a driver is traveling greater than 30 km/h over that limit when passing emergency vehicles, it is $8 per km.