Clearwater RCMP report that a couple of international tourists attended the detachment recently. They were very concerned about a bear that they had seen on Highway 5 near Blue River.
The couple, who had even been able to obtain a few good photos of the bear to share with police, were concerned that the bear was on the highway.
The bear was not injured, nor was the bear attacking anyone or acting aggressive in any way – it was simply crossing the highway.
After some time police were able to explain to the couple that wild animals, including bears, were a fairly common occurrence in the area and the couple went on their way.
In case anyone was unsure, you do not need to report animals crossing the highway or other roads to police.
Rollover crash
On August 24, police received a report in the morning of a black pickup truck which had crashed while traveling south on Highway 5 near McMurphy Station road, outside of Avola.
Police responded and found that the black pickup appeared to have gone off the road into the ditch just before McMurphy Station Road.
It collided with the embankment to the road, flew over the side road, and rolled upside down into the ditch on the south side of McMurphy Station Road.
Amazingly, none of the three occupants received any significant injury and were assisted immediately following the collision by other motorists.
Neither alcohol nor drugs were believed to be a factor.
Excessive speeding
Over the past week Central Interior Traffic Services unit in Clearwater have issued more tickets and impound more vehicles for excessive speed.
High speeds on the highway continue to be a danger to the public at large and police will continue to enforce the speed limit throughout the area. Any person who is issued a traffic ticket for “excessive speed” also receives a mandatory seven-day vehicle impound for whatever vehicle they happened to be driving at that time, whether owned by them or not.
With the construction happening along Highway 5 in multiple places, please make sure to pay attention to road signage.
If passing through a construction zone, do not speed back up unless you’ve seen a specific sign allowing a faster speed, or a sign that says you’ve left the construction zone.
In a construction zone, a speeding ticket is $196 minimum.
September is here
The start of school is just around the corner now and that means school zones will be in effect.
Make sure that if you are driving through a school zone you’ve slowed down and be watching for all those kids making their way to or from school.
It also means the school buses will be out again. If a school bus has its stop sign active, you must stop, regardless if you are going the opposite direction.
The school bus stop sign is visible from both directions, because it applies to both directions.
