EDMONTON, Alta. – The Alberta RCMP are adopting new tactics to catch speeders and bad drivers, most notably by substituting traditional cop cars with civilian vehicles such as pickups and minivans.

Police in the province have been studying which traffic infractions are most common in each region of the province and will tailor their enforcement tactics to reflect those trends.

“One of the things that we have talked about is a non-traditional type of unmarked car – pickup truck, minivan, Volkswagen Beetle,” Staff Sgt. Steve MacDonald tells local media. “If you are a driver that’s an aggressive, careless driver, you may think twice before you crawl up somebody’s backside, flash headlights up and down, and give him the finger, or travel 165 km/h down the highway.”

The new enforcement techniques are based on research over the past two and a half years that indicated the RCMP needs to adjust its enforcement practices.

“In the research we did, we found that our enforcement was a little bit out of balance,” says MacDonald. “We tended to do a lot of speed enforcement but not doing as much enforcement as we should in other areas. Let’s say in traffic region A, the biggest issue is unbelted occupants, not speed. We’d have more enforcement of seat belts than you would speed.”

According to the RCMP’s research, reckless and careless driving is the main concern on Hwy. 2, while running stop signs remains a problem on Hwy. 16 and 16A.