When local RCMP officers respond to emergency situations, navigating through busy intersections can be dangerous. When the new traffic lights were installed at the Penfeld/Acres Drive and Highway 12 intersection, a traffic light control switch was also installed.

Staff Sergeant Harold Laninga says officers are coming off a side road onto a well-traveled highway, which can be dangerous. "It gives us the ability to control the lights and provide a safer environment for not only the traveling public but for ourselves as we proceed through the intersection."

As officers head out from the detachment to respond to an emergency, they just hit the button located at the back door, and they are given one minute of red lights all around at that intersection. They are also given a green turn signal to safely head north, while all traffic is stopped. Laninga adds that's the only time there will be a turn signal at that intersection.

Laninga says to his knowledge, they are the only rural detachment to have such a switch. "I think the idea came from the City of Steinbach, they were very involved in the engineering of that intersection. We are fortunate to have it, and thankful they recognized it would be beneficial for all of us."