Five dead on B.C. highways over May long weekend
Speed and poor judgment were factors in fatalities, highway patrol says. Excessive speeding tickets are way up across the province.
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Five people died on B.C. highways over Victoria Day long weekend—a sharp jump from zero fatalities last year and a sign that drivers are taking dangerous risks.
Corporal Michael McLaughlin of BC Highway Patrol said speed and "bad judgement" were factors in some of those deaths. "As drivers, we need to understand that we're not the exception," he said. "We need to slow down. We need to follow those rules to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe."
The fatalities mark a troubling reversal. In 2025, provincial highways saw no deaths over the May long weekend. The year before, there were three. In 2023, four.
BC Highway Patrol has issued a spike in excessive speeding tickets, which McLaughlin linked directly to the fatalities. "When you look at those five fatalities over the May long weekend, a lot of them are tied to speed," he said. "There is no driver who is skilled enough who can make up for all the unpredictable things that happen on our highway."
The cost of a single excessive speeding incident is steep: an immediate $500 ticket, automatic vehicle impound, seven days of impound fees, plus high-risk driver insurance premiums for three years—totalling roughly $2,500 per violation.
During the long weekend, highway patrol also took drivers off the road for no insurance, impaired driving, and unlicenced operation. The patrol says it constantly reviews data to deploy resources where they're needed most. Without driver cooperation, though, numbers won't budge.