Hundreds of drivers were ticketed for various offences while arriving at and leaving a popular electronic music festival held in Salmo River Ranch in July.
About 50,000 people attended the Shambhala Music Festival, which ran from July 24 to 27.
B.C. Highway Patrol said they stopped drivers going in and ended up issuing hundreds of violation tickets.
That included seven for excessive speed with fines from $368 to $483; 331 for speeding; one for driving without due care and attention; 10 for not using proper restraints or seatbelts; two for using an electronic device while driving and 11 for driving without insurance.
“It’s concerning that so many people were driving with no insurance,” says Sgt. Michael McLaughlin in a release.
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“And it’s particularly concerning combined with the high number of speeders. It shows a level of irresponsible decision-making, and we’d like to see safer behaviour on the roads that we all share.”
At the end of the festival, B.C. Highway Patrol set up two roadblocks to stop people leaving the venue.
In total, 57 vehicles were towed for mechanical safety or driver impairment. Fifty-one people were handed 24-hour driving suspensions for drug impairment. A total of 85 sobriety tests were conducted as well as 30 drug evaluations.
Violation tickets were issued to 50 drivers for a variety of offences and eight vehicles were immediately removed from the road due to major mechanical defects.
“We asked people before the event to make sure they allowed drugs to clear their system before driving, but too many ignored that advice,” McLaughlin added.
“It looks like we will have to be back next year, and hopefully in greater numbers, to deal with festivalgoers who are driving unsafely.”
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