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Judge convicts speeding driver

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Julie Bertrand / Independent reporter

Katherine J. McLachlan was convicted of one count of speeding at an unreasonable rate on July 14 in Stettler Provincial Court. Judge Plosz gave her a fine of $172.

On March 20, 2011, RCMP Constable Stephen Hynes arrested McLachlan after she followed him too close and passed him northbound on Highway 21.

According to Hynes, the roads were very slippery due a 12-inch snowfall left by an overnight snowstorm.

“You couldn’t see any road lines,” he remembered.

Hynes was driving back to his detachment in Wetaskiwin and was going at 75 to 80 km/h due to the road conditions.

After McLachlan passed him, he arrested her and issued a ticket for speeding. He also gave her a verbal warning for following too close. McLachlan didn’t have snow tires on her car. Moreover, the snowplows still hadn’t been out. The arrest was made at roughly 10:30 a.m.

In court, McLachlan maintained that she was following the RCMP car well outside the two-second rule. She passed him when he started slowing down because she thought he was going to pull over and do a U-turn.

McLachlan has never been in an accident or had received a ticket prior to that incident.