Sgt. Graeme LeBlanc was patrolling the Malahat Drive last summer when a call came in over the radio that shocked him.

Another officer had clocked a vehicle at 180 kilometres an hour. Despite their efforts, police werenB次元官网网址檛 able to nab the hazardous driver.

B次元官网网址淚f something does happen ... how long is it going to take them to stop? Is there something wrong with them? Are they drunk? Are they high? Are there mental-health issues?B次元官网网址� said LeBlanc, a Victoria police officer with the Capital Regional DistrictB次元官网网址檚 Integrated Road Safety Unit.

B次元官网网址淲hy are they endangering the public? At a certain point weB次元官网网址檙e just at a loss for an explanation.B次元官网网址�

It makes a strong case for the need for a police road safety unit dedicated to enforcing the rules of the road along the Malahat Drive, a notorious 24-kilometre stretch of highway between Langford and Mill Bay.

ThatB次元官网网址檚 is one of the recommendations that came out of last summerB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淢aking the Malahat SaferB次元官网网址� two-month campaign. Those findings were released Wednesday.

From July 6 to Sept. 7, officers from the CRDB次元官网网址檚 Integrated Road Safety Unit , the Saanich Police DepartmentB次元官网网址檚 Traffic Safety Unit, and RCMP detachments, including South Island Traffic Services and West Shore RCMP, kept up a constant vigil along the Malahat.

An average of 22,000 vehicles travel the Malahat daily, climbing to about 36,000 per day during summer months.

Their goal was to reduce the number of vehicle crashes by 25 per cent, preventing fatalities and serious injury, and to reduce speeding.

Police say their efforts worked B次元官网网址� 35 impaired drivers taken off the road, and risky driving behaviour was curbed. But Insp. Ray Fast, head of the RCMPB次元官网网址檚 Island District Traffic Services, said it would be B次元官网网址渦nrealisticB次元官网网址� to ask for dedicated Malahat patrol unit.

But the RCMP will ask the province for additional police resources for the Island, which, in part, could boost police numbers on the Malahat, Fast said.

A feasibility study would be needed to look at the value of placing photo radar equipment, for example, on the highway.

B次元官网网址淚t is significantly less (cost) than the amount of resources used to deploy a full-time traffic unit,B次元官网网址� Fast said.

Police also identified a need to work with the Ministry of Transportation to create pullouts where police can set up radar traps, in particular on two southbound lane locations between south Shawnigan Lake and Bamberton.

The Malahat Volunteer fire Department has also been lobbying the province to improve safety on the Malahat.

That fire department has called on the Ministry of Transportation to install more median concrete barriers to help prevent often deadly head-on collisions.

Most recently, a Langford motorcyclist died in October and a Port Alberni man died in late December after head-on collisions.

editor@goldstreamgazette.com