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Fewer driving deaths in Burnaby and rest of Lower Mainland this July

July has been a good month, stats-wise, for the RCMP's traffic services department. According to Supt.

July has been a good month, stats-wise, for the RCMP's traffic services department.

According to Supt. Norm Gaumont, head of traffic services for the RCMP's Lower Mainland District Regional Police Service, there have been four deaths in car crashes in the RCMP-policed areas of the Lower Mainland, less than half the average of nine over the last five years.

Burnaby recently had one of those fatalities, as an accident on July 23 along Canada Way claimed the life of a young man.

"If everyone drives safely this holiday weekend, we will see the lowest number of fatalities for July going back to at least 1996," said Gaumont in a press release. He noted that traffic enforcement will be stepped up on all major highways and in all RCMP-policed communities during the long weekend.

"There will be extra officers out in each detachment area and traffic services will be on the highways in full force with the summer CounterAttack program," Gaumont said. "In addition to targeting impaired drivers, we will be looking for distracted drivers and those who fail to pay attention to the speed limit."

The summer CounterAttack program began July 1 and so far, the police have issued 159 three-day immediate roadside prohibitions, 207 90-day prohibitions, 59 24-hour prohibitions for drug impairment, and laid three impaired charges.

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