Police say 85 per cent of big trucks at 881 checkstop deemed deficient

 According to Lac La Biche RCMP Const. Chris Clark, throughout the weekend of March 20 - 24, 2014 Lac La Biche RCMP organized and conducted an extensive enforcement operation on local highways.   The first stop, says Clark in a press release issued Monday, was Thursday afternoon when Lac La Biche RCMP, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officers and Lac La Biche County Peace Officers conducted a checkstop on Highway 881 approximately 30 kilometres north of Lac La Biche.  

Police checked approximately 200 vehicles and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officers conducted inspections on vehicles.  Officers issued 13 violation tickets during the operation and inspections on commercial vehicles resulted in several vehicles being placed out of service until repairs could be completed.  Approximately 85% of the commercial vehicles checked were deficient and removed from service.  Officers involved in this operation also conducted speed enforcement on Highway 881.   

Police located a vehicle on Highway 881 that was travelling at 164k/hr in a posted 100k/hr zone.  The 23 year old male driver of the vehicle was charged and issued a violation ticket for an automatic court appearance.  The male will appear in Lac La Biche Provincial Court on June 2, 2014.   Police and other enforcement officers also stopped a semi truck as part of the checkstop that was transporting a load of pipe.  upon conducting an investigation a 40 year old male passenger was arrested and charged for possession of marihuana.  Police searched the commercial vehicle and located 16.6g of marihuana.  A 25 year old male passenger who was also inside the vehicle was arrested for outstanding warrants.  

On Saturday March 22 Lac La Biche RCMP organized several checkstops and were assisted by Lac La Biche County Peace Officers.  The checkstops resulted in two drivers being issued 72 hour suspensions for alcohol levels above the 50mg% or 0.05 limit.  Police also issued a 17 year old male driver a 24 hour suspension for using marihuana prior to operating a motor vehicle.  Officers checked approximately 150 vehicles throughout the night.  As part of this checkstop Police had interactions with a 61 year old male who had open liquor in the cab of a semi truck.   The male was subsequently taken into Police custody and provided a sample of his breath that resulted in a 72 hour suspension.  Further Police checks then showed that the male did not have a proper class of licence to operate the semi truck and had no air brake endorsement.  Both the semi-truck and the trailer were both un-registered as well.  The driver was issued eight violation tickets for various offences.  

Throughout the weekend RCMP also focussed their attention on drivers failing to obey speed limits and other driving laws.  A vast majority of the $6,300 in fines that were issued were located on Highway 881.  Throughout the weekend and enforcement blitz Police issued just under $13,000 in violation tickets for various offences.