RCMP and Alberta Traffic Sheriffs have laid nearly 700 charges, after a four-day effort to promote safe driving on one of Alberta's most notorious highways.

Officers from RCMP, extra traffic sheriffs were deployed on Highway 63 between Thursday, May 3 and Sunday, May 6 – between Redwater and Fort McMurray.

Over the weekend blitz, officers laid a total of 663 charges, including:

  • 552 speeding violations
  • 95 violations, including dangerous driving
  • 4 alcohol-related violations and one 24-hour suspension
  • 4 seatbelt or child restraint infractions
  • 8 violations from having no insurance to driving while suspended

The charges are nearly double the number of charges laid in the same length of time, on the same stretch of highway, which are usually closer to 300 charges.

The province said an aggressive timeline for completing the twinning of Highway 63, and said Alberta Transportation is reviewing options for accelerating the separation of the lanes on the highway.

Highway 63 serves as the main artery between Fort McMurray and Edmonton, and some have called it "Alberta's Deadliest Highway" – claiming the high incidence of collisions on the road is a result of much of the roadway being a single carriageway.

However, RCMP said it isn't just up to the province to make the highway safer; drivers need to change their attitudes.

"At the end of the day, this is not about resources or whether enough of our highways are twinned, this is about driver behaviour, and the decisions drivers are making when they're out on our highways."" C/Supt. Rick Taylor said at RCMP "K" Divison Monday.

On Saturday, more than 1000 people gathered in Fort McMurray to rally the province to fast-track the twinning of the highway.

A push to twin the highway has grown since a two-vehicle head-on collision on the same highway ten days ago left seven people dead, including a two-year-old and an eleven-year-old.

With files from Kim Taylor