Oceanside Community Safety volunteers remain on the lookout as school is back in session.
According to the group’s website, Speedwatch volunteers Mike and James set up in the Nanoose Bay Elementary school zone at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. By 10 a.m. they had checked approximately 600 vehicles.
According to the pair, public response was excellent. More than 100 drivers expressed their appreciation in some manner and there were no complaints.
Of the 600 drivers monitored, 27 were traveling at one to 10 km/h over the 30 km/h limit; 12 chose speeds between 41 and 50 km/h, with the highest speed measured at 54 km/h.
One driver was noted using a cellphone while navigating the school zone and 14 others were doing some other action in addition to driving, such as eating or drinking coffee.
The Oceanside RCMP was present for part of this deployment, also using their radar to monitor speed.
READ MORE: Traffic Watch notes host of scofflaws at Errington intersection
The safety group’s Traffic Watch volunteers also performed a variety of deployments during the month of July, donating 27.5 hours of volunteer time.
They made eight total deployments at six different locations on ‘cellphone watch’, covering a total of nearly 3,900 vehicles.
The most offenders were spotted at Memorial and Hoylake in Qualicum Beach, with four of 859 drivers spotted talking and three ‘other’ violations.
One driver was talking at Laburnum and Claymore in Qualicum Beach, and another (out of 1,682 vehicles) at Highway 19A and Hemsworth.
One ‘intersection watch’ deployment was performed, at Church and Wembley in Parksville, with a whopping 177 of 415 vehicles failing to stop.
Seven ‘speed watch’ deployments were undertaken, with the most scofflaws spotted at Highway 19A and Hemsworth (167 of the 1,682 vehicles travelling more than 10 km/h over the 50 km/h limit. The fastest recorded speed was 80 km/h.
A total of 44 speeders were recorded out of 224 vehicles northbound in the 200 block of Kenmuir Road in Qualicum Bay. Top speed was 76 km/h.
The most law-abiding drivers were found on Memorial and Hoylake. Not one of the 859 drivers was found travelling more than 10 km/h over the 50 km/h limit, with the fastest speed recording being 55 km/h.
To volunteer with the organization, visit https://www.oceansidecsv.org/content/volunteer-oceanside-community-safety
— NEWS Staff, submitted