BC Highway Patrol set a new long-weekend record for excessive speed impoundments on the Sea to Sky Highway, pulling 66 vehicles off the road between Lions Bay and Mt. Currie from May 15 to 18.
The Squamish-based unit also issued 212 violation tickets over the four-day Victoria Day weekend as part of the month-long High Risk Driving Campaign. Sunday, May 17, was the busiest day, with 33 vehicles impounded.
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The previous long-weekend record on Highway 99 was 60 impoundments over the Labour Day weekend in 2025.
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin said officers at one point had four Porsches and two motorcycles lined up waiting for tow trucks. He said some drivers were caught travelling more than 80 km/h over the posted limit despite highway signs warning of police ahead.
“That sort of excessive speeding is exactly what we commonly see at fatal highway collisions, and it’s not acceptable,” McLaughlin said.
He said the unit would continue targeting excessive speeders on the corridor.
We need to talk about decriminalizing speeding.
Let’s be real: if a capable driver decides to open it up on a straight, empty highway in broad daylight, or push a well-engineered car a bit on a winding backroad, they aren’t looking to hurt anyone. They are weighing the conditions and making a choice. Like so many other things we try to ban, speeding is entirely victimless—right up until it isn’t. The vast majority of us flow with traffic above the posted limit every single day, and nothing happens.
The actual, guaranteed harm here doesn’t come from the driving; it comes from the enforcement. We’ve built a predatory system of traffic fines that act as a tax on the poor. We clog our courts, suspend licenses, and ruin people’s ability to commute to work, all while insurance companies use minor infractions to jack up rates like corporate loan sharks.
Prohibition has never worked. People have had a need for speed since the invention of the wheel, and no amount of flashing lights will change that. Criminalizing normal driving habits doesn’t make us safer; it just turns everyday citizens into targets for revenue generation.
It’s time to pivot to a harm-reduction model. Instead of policing arbitrary numbers on a sign, let’s focus on what actually kills people: distracted driving, intoxication, and reckless weaving. If the state wants money, they can tax high-performance vehicles at purchase. But it’s time to stop treating competent adults like criminals just for exercising basic judgment on the road. The war on speeding has failed. It’s time for smart regulation and a little respect for personal autonomy… just like hard drugs.
The actual, guaranteed harm here doesn’t come from the driving; it comes from the enforcement.
That sentence is outrageous false. I was there yesterday, some drivers seemed to have fun overtaking as many cars as possible, speeding, zigzagging through traffic as if everyone else was just a statist. Once I had the blinker on, was just going to overtake when a car races past me. If I would not have had a second loo into the mirror, this could have ended in a accident. First look cars were way behind, second look, beside me. Racing is dangerous!
I’m a car guy and I disagree… Nobody intends to get into an accident, and yet they happen all the time because people choose to drive dangerously or neglegantly. The rules are here for everyone to abide by, and if you don’t want to, then take it to a track. You can have plenty of fun in a car at legal speeds, you likely just don’t have the right car if you feel justified in having to do 80 above the limit. People always over estimate their ability and end up killing some mom and her kids coming home from soccer practice.
Thanks for this. That highway is far too tricky for racing or excessive speed.
Glad to hear that the RCMP is after these excessive speeders in what ever they are driving in. Get them off the road to make it safer. Cheers.