Drivers ignoring barricades cause of parade delay

A number of vehicles ignored barricades set up along the route of the Santa Claus parade in Charlottetown on Saturday, say police, leading to a delayed start.

The parade started 35 minutes late.

"We weren't comfortable with the route being secure from vehicle traffic," said deputy police chief Brad MacConnell.

"They would have had to have known that the parade was happening. Not respecting those security measures and traffic measures caused us some problems."

Safety is the first police priority for the parade, MacConnell said, and supervisors on the ground made the right call in delaying the event until the route was clear. He said not a lot of vehicles were involved, but even with just a few it takes some time to get the vehicles out of the way.

No tickets were issued, he said.

"The primary concern was getting them safely off the route at that time, not so much dealing with the infractions," he said.

The events of the evening will be reviewed, said MacConnell, and options considered for making the parade run more smoothly next year.

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