‘Disturbing’ number of charges laid in OPP East Region over 11 days

Ontario Provincial Police were kept busy over the Canada Day long weekend and the week leading up to the holiday with more than 2,000 charges laid across the east region.

Officials said 2,412 charges were laid from June 21 to July 1. The east region consists of detachments from as far west as Napanee and Odessa to areas in the Ottawa Valley like Renfrew and Pembroke.

Police told CityNews that the largest totals of combined charges were from the detachments monitoring Ottawa, Lennox and Addington County, Quinte West, Leeds County and Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.

Officers also issued nearly 900 warnings on top of the charges.

“The number of violations our officers saw during this period is disturbing, particularly when it comes to seatbelts, life jackets and helmets,” Walid Kandar, Inspector, OPP East Region Traffic & Marine Manager, said in a press release. “We all know they can save lives. As for speeding, we also know the severity of collisions increases with higher speeds.”

The safety initiative saw the majority of charges go to speeding, with over 100 to seatbelt charges and some impaired driving.

Here’s the breakdown of charges:

• 1,309 for speeding
• 47 for stunt driving
• 87 for impaired driving
• 24 for distracted driving
• 134 for seatbelt charges
• 32 for PFD/Life jacket issues
• 11 helmet charges for off road vehicles