Officers stopped a vehicle traveling 107 km/h in an 80 km/h zone. Police say the driver used fake plates and forged insurance documents. Authorities say it was the driver’s seventh stop without a valid license. It’s easy to dismiss a traffic stop for modest speeding as little more than revenue collection. Cases like this help explain why officers often say even the most routine stop can uncover much more serious issues. What began as a driver traveling just 27 km/h (17 mph) over the posted limit allegedly exposed a string of violations that reached far beyond speeding. Earlier this month, Foothills County Peace Officers stopped a vehicle on Highway 2A in Alberta, Canada, after clocking it at 107 km/h (66 mph) in an 80 km/h (50 mph) zone. During the stop, officers noticed some, shall we say, irregularities. So they called in help from the Okotoks RCMP to dive a little deeper. More: Canada’s Mounties Are Giving Police Cruisers Their First New Look In Over 30 Years The first giveaway was that the license plate was allegedly fictitious. Authorities believe the driver bought it online. Officers also allege the insurance card presented during the stop was forged. Further checks determined the vehicle wasn’t legally registered and that the driver did not possess a valid driver’s license. That’s at least three strikes all on one stop, over what was initially very light speeding. Now, the driver is facing a hefty list of consequences. Police impounded the Lincoln crossover in question. The driver is also facing charges of speeding, operating an uninsured vehicle, operating an unregistered vehicle, driving without a valid license, displaying unauthorized license plates, and producing a false insurance card. Collectively, the offenses carry minimum fines totaling C$6,751 (about US$4,900), though additional court-imposed penalties could increase that amount. Perhaps the most striking detail is that, according to Foothills County officials, this was the seventh time the same driver had been stopped while not holding a valid driver’s license. Authorities did not explain why the individual continued to drive despite the repeated encounters or whether additional criminal charges could follow. While this wasn’t a pretextual stop, it sure seems to serve as an example of why those exist. RCMP
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