Azalia Sankey, 9, gets a ticket for some treats for wearing a helmet from Penticton RCMP Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth as this year's positive ticketing campaign gets underway.
(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)
July 11, 2017 - 7:00 PM
PENTICTON - Penticton RCMP are stepping up their ticketing campaign for another summer season, but this is one enforcement drive residents won’t mind.
“We’re giving out tickets - tickets for doing good, for doing the right thing. Kids, adults wearing bike helmets, we’re focussing on kids to educate them. We’ll also be set up with our volunteers at marinas to remind people and to give out positive tickets for wearing lifejackets,” Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth says.
It's the second annual positive ticketing campaign and is again sponsored by the South Okanagan Brain Injury Society.
Executive director Linda Sankey says the campaign is designed to promote the use of safety gear throughout the year.
“The positive ticket idea is people will be rewarded for doing it correctly, wearing their helmets, using their personal floatation device, those kinds of things,” Sankey says, adding the campaign targets youth in order to set good habits while young, but adults will also be ticketed.
The tickets consist of coupons for treats and activities in Penticton.
Education prevention coordinator Jacquelyn Bellanger was at the skateboard park this morning, July 11, providing children with a demonstration of how helmets work by using a protected and unprotected egg.
Bellanger says some of the kids are pretty shocked when they see one egg survives and the other doesn't. She says once they see the demonstration they are more interested in wearing a helmet.
The Brain Injury Society also provides a demonstration showing the difference in integrity between old and new helmets, noting most helmets are only good for 10 years because they deteriorate with age.
The postive ticketing campaign runs until the end of summer.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2017