Teen turns off headlights and ‘dangerously’ passes vehicles on highway: Police

A driver was clocked speeding on Highway 417 in the evening of Aug. 4. (OPS)

Posted Aug 7, 2025 12:35:13 PM.

Last Updated Aug 7, 2025 12:50:25 PM.

Police officers were scattered across the City of Ottawa on the look out for people not following the rules of the road on Aug. 4.

Officials said in a press release that the Traffic Escort and Enforcement Unit from the Ottawa police was conducting a city-wide enforcement operation over the holiday Monday that resulted in dozens of tickets and several criminal code charges.

Over the course of the evening, police handed out 27 provincial offence notices, including 18 for speeding, and multiple others for failure to have an insurance card, no proper lights, no driver’s licence or plate not visible.

Police described a situation where a teenager was charged during the enforcement project in a dangerous incident.

It happened on Highway 417 near St. Laurent Boulevard. A vehicle flew by an unmarked cop car at around 168 km/h.

“After passing the cruiser, the driver turned off his headlights, dangerously passed an 18-wheeler, and passed two other vehicles,” officials said.

The 18-year-old man was caught by officers are charged with stunt driving (excessive speed), careless driving and failing to surrender an insurance card. As a result, his licence is suspended for 30 days, the vehicle impounded for two weeks and he is due in court at a later date.

If convicted, he could be facing a further $2,000-10,000 fine, a one to three-year licence suspension and possibly six months in jail.

The second set of criminal charges laid that night happened after an officer got an alert from the Automatic Licence Plate Reader (ALPR) for a possible suspended driver.

After being stopped, the driver was not suspended, but they had cannabis readily available to them, police said.

A further search of the vehicle happened and a taser was found and seized. The driver was charged with: