The annual check stop along Highway 11 at Chamberlain (pictured), in advance of the Country Thunder music festival in Craven, was busy and eventful once again.

A Saskatchewan RCMP news release said over three thousand drivers were stopped on Wednesday and Thursday by Combined Traffic Services Section (CTSS) units from Rosetown, Meadow Lake, Maidstone, Martensville, Melfort, North Battleford, Fort Qu’Appelle and Lanigan – as well as CTSS units from the Saskatoon Police Service and Regina Police Service plus the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol. Officers administered 33 cannabis tests, resulting in 15 tickets being issued along with roadside suspensions and vehicles being impounded for drivers who had recently consumed cannabis. Also, 247 warnings were issued to motorists plus two car seats were handed out to drivers transporting children with expired, faulty or no child safety seat. An additional list of violations from the two-day checkstop follows…

Additional violations included:

1 roadside suspension for alcohol use.

1 roadside suspension for cocaine use.

20 impounded vehicles for consuming drugs or alcohol before driving;

1 criminal charge for impaired operation of a vehicle.

4 tickets for open liquor in the vehicle.

214 total tickets, including 3 seatbelt violations; 29 for speeding and one for speeding more than 50 kilometers over the speed limit resulting in impoundment.

22 tickets or warnings for trailer/tow related violations.

3 seizures of illicit cannabis.