2 area motorists rack up thousands in costs due to excessive speeding, caught by BCHP ‘ghost cars’

BRITISH COLUMBIA – BC Highway Patrol officers might not have proton packs per se, but as Halloween approaches, the agency says it isn’t afraid to use what it calls “ghost cars” to go after excessive speeders on remote B.C. highways.

BCHP Sgt. Michael McLaughlin says these “ghost cars,” or ghost cruisers, are unmarked police vehicles with less obvious emergency lights and markings are otherwise fully operable police vehicles. He says two recent excessive speed impounds earlier this month were a direct outcome of using ghost cruisers to enforce safe driving near Prince George. 

On Thursday, October 1, at about 5:40 p.m., on Highway 97 North (Hart Highway), a white Dodge Ram 3500 being driven by a 36-year-old man from Harrison Mills, B.C., was stopped by a ghost cruiser when radar showed a speed of 121 km/h in a 50 zone.

Just a day later on Friday, Oct. 2, a green Honda SUV was stopped on southbound Hwy. 97 near Pollard Road, at 8:40 p.m., when radar showed a reading of 123 km/h in a 50 zone. The driver, a 22-year-old Surrey man, was also a novice driver who previously had a three-month driving prohibition for prior driving offences.

Both drivers received:

• Excessive speed (over 60 km/h), section 148(1) of the BC Motor Vehicle Act (MVA), for a fine of $483;
• The cost of a tow truck and a seven-day impound (at the owner’s expense);
• At least three years of high-risk driver premiums and escalating insurance that will bring the total costs to at least $2,300.

The Surrey man driving the green Honda also received:

• Fail to display “N”, section 30.10(4) of the BC Motor Vehicle Act Regulations ($109).

“It’s a hard enough job to work on our roads in fall and winter conditions,” said Sgt. McLaughlin. “The least we can all do is slow down and make the job a little safer for the people who maintain our highways.”