With excessive speeding continuing to be a problem in the region and across the province, motorists are being asked to think twice before putting the pedal down.
Whether drivers will heed the advice to put safety first remains to be seen. What is known is that if speeding continues to be the way of things for many drivers, the results will also continue to be tragic and costly.
Responding to a recent report from the county's peace officers, Mountain View County Reeve Bruce Beattie said far too many people are ignoring posted speed limits, particularly on country roads across the region.
"We're seeing these excessive speeds here and across Alberta," said Beattie. "It is in these rural areas that those excessive speeds are responsible for significant portions of those fatalities. It is frustrating to me and it should be frustrating to anyone who has read the statistics."
According to the report from county officers, more than two dozen tickets were issued in 2016 to motorists caught driving at least 50 kilometres per hour over posted limits on county roads.
And anyone who believes the speeding problem is somehow isolated to Mountain View County should think again.
According to the province, more than 400 people were killed and more than 11,000 injured on Alberta roads between 2011 and 2014 in collisions involving speeding.
As well, over the past decade an average of more than 1,200 motorists a year were convicted of driving more than 50 kilometres per hour over posted limits.
"The faster you are driving, the less time you have to react to anything unexpected," said Minister of Transportation Brian Mason.
"Safe speed is an important aspect of traffic safety, along with safe vehicles, safe road users and safe infrastructure. We all share the responsibility to prevent injuries and deaths on Alberta's roadways."
Excessive speeding on Alberta's highways and country roads is an ongoing danger that needs to be addressed.
Whether that means much, much heavier fines are needed or whether common sense will somehow, suddenly, become much more commonplace remains anyone's guess.
Dan Singleton is the Mountain View Gazette editor.
