BCHP urging drivers to “slow down dude” and drive sober amid summer highway traffic surge

BC Highway Patrol in Golden is asking people to slow down and drive sober during a summer spike in excessive speeding and dangerous driving. It’s all happening amidst a huge increase in traffic volume on Highway #1.

Summer is always a busy season on the Trans Canada, but we all need to obey the speed limit and drive with more caution, says Corporal Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol. Our officers feel like we are pulling people over moments before catastrophe, especially when drivers are speeding through national parks and construction zones.

It’s also a good time to remember that the Summer Impaired Driving Campaign is underway. For instance, on July 4, 2025, BC Highway Patrol stopped a pickup going 168 km/h in a 90 zone on Highway #1 in Yoho National Park. The driver, a 24-year-old Williams Lake man, was a Class 7 Novice with four passengers in his vehicle. When the officer used an Approved Screening Device for alcohol, the driver blew two readings of fail.