Hundreds of thousands of people from all over British Columbia, Canada, and the United States attended the popular Pemberton Music Festival from July 16th until the 20th. Although the festival was a fun weekend filled with music and beautiful scenery, some festival goers left behind a shocking mess, while others were caught drinking and driving on nearby highways.
Despite the convenient placement of hundreds of recycling bins and garbage cans around the festival grounds, some festival goers left behind a huge mess as they left to go home. In fact, some festival goers deliberately threw their trash on the ground, despite standing directly beside trash cans.
Facebook user Keith Harasymiw posted these photos of the Pemberton Valley post-festival.
Photo Credit: Keith Harasymiw Facebook.
“Great job on picking up after yourselves at Pembyfest,” read the post by Harasymiw. “Glad to see how much you all love your gorgeous B.C.”
Thousands of Facebook users have commented on Harasymiw's photos, sharing their disgust on such "inconsiderate" actions from festival goers, while other Facebook users stated that this mess is nothing new for other festivals around the country and the world.
Photo Credit: Keith Harasymiw Facebook.
A photo posted to Facebook only a month before the 2015 Pemberton Music Festival. (Photo Credit: Brad Miller Facebook.)
Meanwhile, local RCMP and tow trucks were kept busy during the festival, as several people were ticketed or had their vehicles impounded for speeding excessively and driving impaired on the Sea to Sky Highway.
According to RCMP, 13 vehicles were impounded for excessive speeding and seven drivers were investigated for impaired driving. The impaired drivers were found to be under the influence of both alcohol and drugs.
Photo Credit: RCMP contributed.
All drivers were male and their ages range from 18 to 72 years. One vehicle was stopped for travelling 159 km/h in an 80 km/h zone, while a Mustang was caught speeding nearly 200 km/h in a 90 km/h zone.
The drivers caught speeding will face a driver risk premium on top of their insurance costs, and those who chose to drink and drive may be ordered to install an ignition interlock device on their vehicles.
“All of these high risk drivers clearly had a total disregard for the safety of everyone on the road and being stopped by police truly was a gift, compared to what the outcomes could have been,” said Ronda Corporal Rempel of BC RCMP Traffic Services.
RCMP remind residents that two of the top three contributing factors for fatal collisions in B.C. are speed and impaired driving. One person every three days will die on B.C. roads during the summer months due to impaired driving.
“This statistic is truly startling and that is why police across the province focus their enforcement efforts on ending this high risk driving behaviour through counterattacks,” added Corporal Rempel. "Summer time is meant to be full of fun, not funerals.”
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