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Opinion: This stubborn Burnaby driver is banned for refusing to have a licence. Wait, what?

A series of blitzes by police highlight some stubborn drivers
tow unlicensed
A vehicle is towed away in Burnaby.

When I turned 16, I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s licence.

Yes, this is back in the 1980s, when you could get a full licence at 16 with the ‘L’ and the ‘N’ – life was a lot easier back then.

But the basic idea was how much teens wanted to get a licence so we could drive.

Today, apparently people don’t care if they have a driver’s licence, based on how many drivers are getting nailed by Burnaby RCMP in recent weeks.

Police in Burnaby continue to nail more unlicensed drivers in a series of enforcement blitzes.

Burnaby RCMP’s traffic team was out targeting drivers making their way into Burnaby on Tuesday, according to a police tweet.

Six drivers were caught without a licence, including one that has now been banned from driving for repeatedly driving without a licence. In all, 27 tickets were handed out during the blitz.

This follows the same team out last Saturday, when they caught a whopping 14 drivers driving without licenses. Four were stopped without valid insurance, police said, and one prohibited driver was caught and charges are coming. Police issued a total of 33 tickets.

This followed another blitz the previous weekend in which Burnaby RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Mike Kalanj said that, over the course of a few hours, they caught 10 drivers without valid licences.

“It still blows my mind, 10 people,” Kalanj said. “And it wasn’t like they spent a 12-hour shift doing this...That’s 10 in Burnaby alone. Think of the rest of the Lower Mainland.”

Kalanj also noted the enforcement was conducted on a Sunday night when there aren’t as many vehicles on the road.

In all, the officers handed out 27 tickets.

Two drivers were slapped with indefinite driving bans after being caught repeatedly driving without licences, according to Burnaby RCMP.

Several vehicles were towed.

  • With additional reporting by Cornelia Naylor