Four hundred more traffic tickets were issued by Mountain View County community peace officers in 2015 than in 2014, the policies and priorities committee heard Feb. 3.
The year-end traffic enforcement report was presented to the committee by Jeff Holmes, director of legislative services.
A total of 1,951 tickets were issued for speeding, traffic hazards, other offences such as no insurance, seatbelt violations and stop sign offences in 2015. That compared with 1,554 tickets issued in all categories in 2014.
Last year, 1,838 tickets were issued for speeding, compared with 1,413 in 2014 and 866 in 2013.
There were 67 other traffic tickets issued, including for distracted driving, in 2015, down from 78 in 2014 and 97 in 2013.
There were 41 stop sign offence tickets issued in 2015, compared with 43 in 2014 and 15 in 2013.
The report included a breakdown of where the tickets were issued and during which months.
Bearberry/Coal Camp saw 12 tickets issued (compared with three in 2014), Bergen 58 (94), Dogpound 285 (116), Eagle Hill/Westward Ho 101 (146), Elkton/Rugby 27 (20), Fallen Timber 161 (171), Hainstock 225 (264), Harmattan 13 (3), Jackson 202 (102), James River 9 (3), Lonepine 128 (168), McDougal Flats 29 (27), Midway 29 (10), Netook 60 (47), Reed Ranch 17 (11), Rosebud 92 (99) and Water Valley 134 (137).
July saw the most tickets issued at 323, followed by May with 250 and April with 204.
Impaired driving stops were not included in the statistics.
“Our peace officers are not designated to ticket those, so what they would end up doing is just holding the scene until the RCMP arrive to deal with it,” said Holmes.
Meanwhile, the county's community aggregate payment levy brought in $685,139 between 2012 and 2104, the committee heard.
The report on the levy was presented by Holmes to the committee at the regularly scheduled meeting.
Under the levy, which was authorized by the Municipal Government Act in 2011, the county collects $0.25 a tonne on the shipment of sand and gravel in the municipality.
A total of 2,740,563 tonnes of gravel and sand was shipped in the county in the three years, including 970,123 in 2014. The 2015 totals have not yet been compiled, the committee heard.
In 2012 a number of counties asked the government to increase the levy to reflect increased road maintenance costs. In 2015, the regulations were renewed until the end of 2017, but with no increase in the $0.25 per tonne maximum levy.
The funds collected from the levies in Mountain View County go towards infrastructure maintenance, director of corporate service Robert Beaupertuis told the committee.
