An Alberta man was recently handed a speeding ticket for driving 1 km/h over the speed limit when he passed a peace officer travelling slowly.
Mathieu Gagne says he was driving behind a peace officer in Sturgeon County, north of Edmonton, on Friday. The officer was driving slower than the posted speed limit, Gagne says, so he decided to overtake him.
“I had the right of way, the dotted line, and there was nobody in front of me, so I decided it was alright, in my right, to pass the peace officer,” Gagne explained to CTV Edmonton.
That’s when Gagne says the officer turned on his lights and pulled him over.
“The next thing he said was, it was disrespectful. I was disrespecting him,” Gagne said.
The Bon Accord resident said he argued that he had passed safely, but was given a $78 ticket for driving 101 km/h in a 100 km/h zone.
“Send a message, but that’s the wrong message,” Gagne said. “This is a speeding ticket. It’s demerits. That goes on my record. It goes on my insurance. My insurance goes up.”
Gagne’s girlfriend took to social media to vent about the incident and upload a photo of the ticket in question. The Facebook post appeared to strike a nerve as it attracted thousands of shares and comments.
Gagne won’t have to fight the speeding ticket, however. A representative from Sturgeon County called him on Monday, to say that the fine would be rescinded.
“Upon further review, they did only estimate the driver’s speed and they did not record or measure it on a radar and laser as they indicated on the ticket,” Sturgeon County spokesperson Gwen Wolansky said.
The peace officer who issued the ticket is not facing any punitive action for the error, according to Wolansky.
With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Nicole Weisberg
