Photo by Alex McCuaig - Traffic along Hwy. 9 is stopped in a section of the road that is being repaved.

By Alex McCuaig

Cops launch traffic enforcement operation

Mounties, sheriffs and Special Area officers launch traffic enforcement operation

Aug 29, 2019 | 1:44 PM

Cereal, AB – It’s been a deadly month on Highway 9 between Oyen and Youngstown with four fatalities which have left an 11-year-old boy dead and a young girl seriously injured in a collision which took her parents’ lives.

A six-week combined force operation is now underway which will attempt to reel in speeders and distracted drivers on Highway 9 after two collisions in as many weeks left four people dead and 14 injured.

It’s this type of enforcement which Youngstown resident Terry Zackrisson said is needed along the stretch of highway.

“People are going too fast. There is heavy traffic all the time. People are passing when it’s not safe,” she said.

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Zackrisson was in the village when it became a makeshift evacuation zone following the collision on Aug. 27 which killed three people. She said officials should look at widening the highway which serves as a major commercial route between Calgary and Saskatoon.

Construction has been taking place along the stretch of highway between Youngstown and Oyen with Cereal resident Marilyn Howie saying it has exasperated an already challenged highway traffic situation.

“People are impatient,” said Howie. “They don’t want to go slow and it just gives me the chills the first time I ventured out on the highway after accident number one. People did not slow down and I thought, ‘people, have you not heard what has happened?’”

RCMP, Alberta Sheriffs and Special Area peace officers have launched a six-week initiative to try to curb speeding and distracted driving along the stretch of Hwy. 9 along with neighbouring highways 41, 570 and 895.

“We have concerns because there have been high rate of speeds reported and we have a lot of construction in those areas,” said RCMP Const. Mike Hibbs, Traffic Services branch. “With school coming on next week, we have a lot of school zones that need to monitored as well. We’re trying to keep speeds down, also distracted driving.”

Hibbs added that if anyone sees any driving behaviour which appears out of the ordinary, call 9-1-1 and officers will investigate.