07-03-2007, 10:35 PM
Police alarmed at street racing surge
Updated Mon. Jul. 2 2007 8:55 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
An epidemic of high-speed driving in Ontario has police there calling for a number of measures to crack down, including the return of photo radar and aircraft patrols.
The Ontario Provincial Police have good reason to be concerned about reckless drivers -- the number traffic fatalities on OPP-patrolled roadways so far this year is up more than 20 per cent from last year, and officers have laid more charges.
"We're very concerned with an additional 130 charges laid ... It is clear some members of the public are not getting it," OPP Chief Supt. Bill Grodzinski said Sunday.
"Certainly those individuals driving at extreme speeds are causing us a great deal of concern."
A Toronto couple are the latest innocent victims of street racers. They were on their way to see Canada Day fireworks at Canada's Wonderland amusement park north of Toronto when a car slammed into them from behind.
"I didn't know what happened until the car stopped," said Jaimangal Budhai. His wife is in a neck brace as a result. She also suffered severe bruising.
Police arrested one man after the accident and are looking for the driver of the other vehicle.
The vehicle that struck them on the high-volume, high-speed 401 highway that runs across the north of Toronto was believed to be racing at speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour.
Budhai and his wire are lucky in one way. Racers heading northbound on the 400 highway that leads from Toronto to Barrie, Ont. allegedly cut off a truck driver, who went into the ditch to avoid another vehicle. The truck driver died.
Over the holiday weekend, one Corvette was clocked at 193 km/h and a motorcycle at 170 km/h, as just two examples.
Grodzinski said the division is targeting three main areas to reduce accidents and make Ontario's highways safer:
-Impaired driving;
-Failure to wear seatbelts; and
-Aggressive driving.
To target street racing, Grodzinski said a combination of measures, including aircraft patrol, but that the OPP can do more when civilians serve as an extra pair of eyes.
"We made four arrests on Saturday morning as a direct result of the public calling in," Grodzinski said.
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino has suggested that anyone caught going more than 50 km/h over the speed limit be automatically deemed to be racing and have their car seized.
Michael Bryant, Ontario's attorney general, wants to see cars modified for street racing seized and crushed. California already has such a law.
Prominent Canadian auto racer Paul Tracy will be appearing in anti-speeding ads this week, telling people, "Racing on the street is not the place to do it."
Critics say there's always more the OPP and other police services could be doing to prevent traffic fatalities.
Canada Safety Council spokeswoman Suzanne Robillard said the obvious solution is the use of photo radar -- a radar gun that takes photos of speeders' licence plates.
Photo radar was introduced in Ontario by Bob Rae's NDP government in 1994, but it was scrapped just under a year later by Mike Harris's Conservatives.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has said his government won't re-introduce it, as it's considered too politically unpopular.
But Robillard said a Canada Safety Council poll found that two-thirds of respondents support photo radar on Canadian highways.
"So it seems like it might not be such a bad political move. There's a lot of people that see the use and the benefits of having photo radar,'' she said.
Hamilton's Police Chief Brian Mullan has also expressed support for photo radar.
Grodzinski said photo radar should be re-considered if it could reduce fatalities.
"The OPP is interested in anything that saves lives on our highways," Grodzinski said. "Our members see these tragedies day in and day out -- we're the ones that knock on the door in the middle of the night."
"Anything we can do to reduce this totally preventable toll, we'd like to see that."
With a report from CTV's John Vennavally-Rao and files from The Canadian Press.
Updated Mon. Jul. 2 2007 8:55 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
An epidemic of high-speed driving in Ontario has police there calling for a number of measures to crack down, including the return of photo radar and aircraft patrols.
The Ontario Provincial Police have good reason to be concerned about reckless drivers -- the number traffic fatalities on OPP-patrolled roadways so far this year is up more than 20 per cent from last year, and officers have laid more charges.
"We're very concerned with an additional 130 charges laid ... It is clear some members of the public are not getting it," OPP Chief Supt. Bill Grodzinski said Sunday.
"Certainly those individuals driving at extreme speeds are causing us a great deal of concern."
A Toronto couple are the latest innocent victims of street racers. They were on their way to see Canada Day fireworks at Canada's Wonderland amusement park north of Toronto when a car slammed into them from behind.
"I didn't know what happened until the car stopped," said Jaimangal Budhai. His wife is in a neck brace as a result. She also suffered severe bruising.
Police arrested one man after the accident and are looking for the driver of the other vehicle.
The vehicle that struck them on the high-volume, high-speed 401 highway that runs across the north of Toronto was believed to be racing at speeds of up to 150 kilometres per hour.
Budhai and his wire are lucky in one way. Racers heading northbound on the 400 highway that leads from Toronto to Barrie, Ont. allegedly cut off a truck driver, who went into the ditch to avoid another vehicle. The truck driver died.
Over the holiday weekend, one Corvette was clocked at 193 km/h and a motorcycle at 170 km/h, as just two examples.
Grodzinski said the division is targeting three main areas to reduce accidents and make Ontario's highways safer:
-Impaired driving;
-Failure to wear seatbelts; and
-Aggressive driving.
To target street racing, Grodzinski said a combination of measures, including aircraft patrol, but that the OPP can do more when civilians serve as an extra pair of eyes.
"We made four arrests on Saturday morning as a direct result of the public calling in," Grodzinski said.
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino has suggested that anyone caught going more than 50 km/h over the speed limit be automatically deemed to be racing and have their car seized.
Michael Bryant, Ontario's attorney general, wants to see cars modified for street racing seized and crushed. California already has such a law.
Prominent Canadian auto racer Paul Tracy will be appearing in anti-speeding ads this week, telling people, "Racing on the street is not the place to do it."
Critics say there's always more the OPP and other police services could be doing to prevent traffic fatalities.
Canada Safety Council spokeswoman Suzanne Robillard said the obvious solution is the use of photo radar -- a radar gun that takes photos of speeders' licence plates.
Photo radar was introduced in Ontario by Bob Rae's NDP government in 1994, but it was scrapped just under a year later by Mike Harris's Conservatives.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has said his government won't re-introduce it, as it's considered too politically unpopular.
But Robillard said a Canada Safety Council poll found that two-thirds of respondents support photo radar on Canadian highways.
"So it seems like it might not be such a bad political move. There's a lot of people that see the use and the benefits of having photo radar,'' she said.
Hamilton's Police Chief Brian Mullan has also expressed support for photo radar.
Grodzinski said photo radar should be re-considered if it could reduce fatalities.
"The OPP is interested in anything that saves lives on our highways," Grodzinski said. "Our members see these tragedies day in and day out -- we're the ones that knock on the door in the middle of the night."
"Anything we can do to reduce this totally preventable toll, we'd like to see that."
With a report from CTV's John Vennavally-Rao and files from The Canadian Press.