‘Really tough’ Canada Road Safety Week: OPP

Over 14,000 traffic charges were handed out during the national campaign for road safety the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) participates in every year.

Just under 8,000 of those charges were related to speeding charges laid across the province. Over the long weekend, there were four fatalities due to car collisions and another three that happened in a boating wreck.

It’s more than double what OPP reported last year.

“We had a really tough Canada Road Safety Week, we had four people die in road crashes, three people die on the water. OPP were out doing high visibility patrols all through the campaign,” Sergeant Kerry Schmidt with the OPP Highway Safety Division, said. “When we see those numbers and the results, then the tragedies that also occurred — it’s sad and frustrating.”

The annual road safety week started on May 14 and ran until May 20 this year.

According to the results, the leading causes of death or injury in Ontario on highways include impaired driving (254), distracted driving (158), careless driving (155), and no seatbelt (901).

“Speeding and aggressive driving is one of the leading causes of death and injury. Although it does appear that right now distraction, and inattention is the number one killer of the big four,” Schmidt said.

 He added that so far, they’ve already recorded four fatalities from boat collisions, last year they recorded 23 fatalities.

“There is always a lot of boat traffic and that’s why we have hundreds of marine operators and enforcement officers on our vessels all across the province in collaboration with coast guard and other police services as well. Making sure people have life jackets, they’re not driving impaired and they’re obeying rules of the water,” said Schmidt.

Distracted driving is one of the biggest problems they are seeing around Ontario.

“We want people to understand that they have a direct connection to how safe our roads are, based on how people are driving. We just want people to share the road and understand their actions have a direct impact on themselves and others if there’s a crash.”