OPP targeting drivers this long weekend
Posted Jul 27, 2011 03:12:32 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OPP officers will be out this Civic Holiday making sure drivers are abiding by the rules of the road.
This weekend the OPP will be targeting the “Big Four” causal factors in collisions as identified in their award-winning Provincial Traffic Safety Program. These high-risk behaviours include aggressive driving, impaired driving, not wearing seatbelts and distracted driving.
Last year the OPP says it laid more than 9,000 charges over the Civic Holiday weekend and with almost 5,800 of these being speeding and racing charges on roads and highways it’s no surprise that five people were killed in motor vehicle collisions.
Over the same weekend more than 300 motorists, boaters and trail users were charged for driving impaired or being in the Warn Range, and those caught doing the same will now face tougher penalties under the new Vehicle Impoundment Program and Administrative Roadside Licence Suspensions. People who include alcohol as part of their boating or off-road activity will face similar charges and these laws also apply to non-motorized vessels including canoes, kayaks, personal watercraft, sailboats, dinghies and other inflatable boats and rafts.
The weekend will also see ramped up enforcement of the Move Over law that requires drivers to slow down and proceed with caution when passing an emergency vehicle parked on the shoulder with its lights flashing. The stepped up enforcement will go beyond the long weekend as the OPP begin a period of targeted enforcement of the Move Over legislation on Monday, August 1, 2011.
The OPP says it is also concerned about the risk of serious injury to passengers who ride in the back of pickup trucks and will be actively enforcing the law that requires all passengers to only occupy a seating position for which a seat belt assembly has been provided.
