Police see increase in stunt driving charges in first six months of 2024

Six months into the year police have almost laid the same number of stunt driving charges in Ottawa as they did in all of 2023.

According to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), data shows in 2023 officers laid 92 stunt charges. As of June 12, police told CityNews Ottawa there have been 81 stunt charges handed out.

“I don’t want to say for sure that COVID started it, because it’s always kind of been there, but we’ve definitely seen increasing numbers over the years,” Michael Fathi, media relations officer with OPP Ottawa detachment, said.

Police are surprised to note the number of young people being charged with stunt driving.

“It’s also surprising given the penalties for stunt racing,” Fathi said. “You’re fined, you’re paying a reinstatement fee from the Ministry of Ontario to get your license back, you’re paying tow costs and impound fees, and your insurance is going to skyrocket.” 

The rise of speeding well over the limit is not new to police. Fathi said in Ottawa, like other parts of Ontario, there are groups that get together and race down highways.

“We have a lot of complaints about motorcyclists going up and down the highways and they start in the east end, they go to the west and they circle back and forth, throughout most of the night,” he said.

Most motorcyclists are law-abiding, Fathi said, but the groups known to police are the ones that are “popping wheelies” and driving without licence plates. 

The charge of stunt driving is not just about the speed of a vehicle, it also encompasses other dangerous driving habits like spinning tires, doing donuts and even driving with someone in the trunk of the vehicle.

Passing another vehicle on a two-lane highway unsafely can also land a driver with a stunt charge, Fathi said.

Police have told CityNews Ottawa, that one of the more prominent areas for speeding along Highway 417 is near the Moodie Drive exit. According to Fathi, police see the most stunt driving outside of what they call “the core,” which is just east of Moodie Drive to St. Laurent Boulevard.

“Towards Arnprior or further east towards Embrun, those roads are much more wide open,” he said. 

Over the pandemic when roads were voided of traffic, police would lay five or more stunt driving charges in an evening. However, data from that time is unreliable due to the force not having an e-ticketing system, Fathi said.

The new system started in 2022 and allows officers to type in the details of the ticket on their computer instead of writing it out. This means there won’t be any handwritten mistakes and police can also see if the person has been convicted before, he said.

It is one of many tools that are assisting police in arresting and charging those using highways as a race track.

Other ways officers are catching people stunt driving include licence plate recognition software in police vehicles. OPP are also patrolling highways and making sure they are visible, which Fathi said tends to slow drivers down.

“We are doing everything that we have within our powers,” he said.