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Ont. to boost speed fines

Neco Cockburn and Lee Greenberg
CanWest News Service

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Lead foot drivers beware: if you're caught in Ontario driving 50 km/h or more above the speed limit, you will soon be treated like a street racer.

That means police can issue roadside seven-day licence suspensions and impound vehicles for a week. If convicted, you could face fines ranging from $2,000 to $10,000.

The new regulation, announced by Premier Dalton McGuinty Wednesday, takes effect at the end of next month, and tweaks measures implemented earlier this year to target street racing and dangerous driving.

Excessive speeding will now be considered a driving "stunt."

"That means they'll face the extreme stiff penalty we apply to street racers," said McGuinty. "In short, you're looking at major cost and major inconvenience."

On average, there are about 2,500 convictions in Ontario per year for driving at 50 km/h or more above the speed limit, according to officials.

This summer, the province strengthened penalties for street racers and drunk drivers with its Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act. The legislation increased fines for convicted street racers up to $10,000 -- the highest street-racing fine in Canada.

The law, including the new regulation, takes effect Sept. 30.

There have been 39 deaths related to street racing in Ontario since 1999, according to government officials.

Meanwhile, three constables will be added to OPP traffic management teams across the province. Queen's Park will also provide the OPP with $2 million for an aircraft that they will use to catch excessive speeders.

"When you're up in the air it's easy to spot them because you have this huge panorama and they just stick out right away," said Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter.

Tory MPP Christine Elliot said the announcement included "nothing really new. It's a regulation, something they should have dealt with a long time ago," she said.

The problem isn't limited to Ontario.

Earlier this month, a head-on collision in Dartmouth, N.S., left two drivers dead and another man was killed in a drag-racing accident in Laval, Que.

And RCMP are looking into a report four Ferraris and a Lamborghini were doing more than 200 km/h on highways in southern Alberta last week.

Police on Vancouver Island earlier this month stopped two street races in which drivers hurtled down the Trans-Canada and other highways at speeds of more than 150 km/h.

GETTING TOUGH WITH DRIVERS

Ontario's strategy for dealing with those caught driving 50-plus km/h over the limit includes:

- An immediate seven-day driver's licence suspension;

- A possible $10,000 fine upon conviction, the same as street racers;

- Designating 55 additional OPP officers to fight extreme speeding;

- Funding for a new OPP plane with high-tech surveillance equipment.

ZombiePorsche44

Canadians always go so overboard with this kind of thing......next thing you know they will outlaw cars than can exceed 60mph...........glad I live in the good old USA where it's a god given right to speed ...............ZP44

black ice

I wouldn't want to denigrate the memory of the 39 dead since 1999, but I'll bet they have orders of magnitude more die in drunk driving collisions; possibly for other causes.

Chuck A.

IMHO, I think it isn't speed that kills, it's all the idiots talking on their phone, reading the paper, not using their turn signal, doing their make-up, yelling at the kids, using their Blackberry, eating their lunch..... The list just goes on and on.

The net result is that most of the close calls I've had on the road were from people not paying attention to what they were doing; and not from going too fast.

avidtest

I wish it were our God given right to speed here (on I-5 it almost is). However, with the recent proliferation of red-light cameras and new high-tech speed enforcement equipment, I just see more Government intrusion in our lives. And it doesn't look like it's getting better.

You may want to hang on to one of your old pre-gps cell phones in case they start ticketing us based on our phone gps data.

(Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me).

rconnon

Thats some scary stuff - more reason to keep it on the track

jimbo3

+1. The article doesn't mention how many injured/killed by drivers simply doing 50+kph over the posted speed, only that 39 have been killed by street racing in the past 8 years. Bet the number injured/killed by excessive speed alone is close to zero.
There is apparently no new money or legislation to combat inattentive/drunk driving, running red lights, road rage, etc (the things that injure/kill people every day), but a couple of polititians got their name in the paper and the OPP has a new $2 Million aircraft program and 55 more officers, so the politicians and the police chief are happy. Maybe they're hoping that, if they find the F-cars and the Lambo, the $50,000 worth of fines will justify the millions they're spending.

Wilder

I actually don't have much problem with this. I don't agree that speed kills. In my observation it's people who have no experience driving fast yet think that because they drive a car that can go somewhat fast, that they can do so until they get into a situation that shows their limited skills and gets them in trouble. I guess I must be getting old because I often find myself shaking my head at the stupid moves teens make in high powered cars at high speed. If this is going to stop a 17 y/o from killing him/her self and/or someone else, I'm for it.

I guess you're not very familiar with driving in Canada or the US for that matter. I have a tendency to drive agressively and with a heavy foot under reasonably safe conditions and yet I've not had a speeding ticket in over 8 years here in Vancouver (knock on wood). However, the last two times I took long trips to the "good old USA", I came back with tickets from CA, OR and WA the first time and CA and OR the second time. Your neighbors in OR are the worst, having pulled me over for going 5 mi over the 60 mi/h speed limit and giving me a $500+ ticket. A god given right to speed in the good old USA? Try more like a blatant money grab.

96C4S

All this does is cause the police to power trip and try to set an example i think they should use there discretion when handing out these tickets. Eg time and place.

TMc993

When the research is done properly and data interpreted accurately, i.e. not sponsored by the insurance industry or law enforcement, the findings show that the most consistent cause of accidents and fatalities isn't speed.

Rather, it is disparity of speed, as in a car or cars running significantly faster or slower than the speed of the flow of traffic. Interestingly, a car traveling 20 miles an hour slower than the flow of traffic is just as likely to cause an accident as one traveling 20 mph faster than the flow of traffic.

You'll never see this information in an insurance industry or law enforcement public service ad because it completely negates their bogus theories and renders invalid their practice of taking money from people who happen to enjoy driving quickly.

993C4Smontreal

Though I believe the fines sound excessive, I am sure there will be some discretion based on situation and number of offences, etc....


So where does Canada go overboard? Speed and Gun Control....the CND government has lots of flaws, but there is nothing wrong with them trying to limit deaths and injuries as a result of speeding.

"good old USA where it's a god given right to speed". U let me know which US city gives you the right to speed and I assure you it will surpass Vegas and Pheonix as the fastest growing cities in the US.

FYI: The state of MA:
3 moving violations in one year and you lose your DL...even if tix are in adjacent states....

allill

You are probably right about this! I will keep a slingshot in my car and tell the judge I launched my cel phone to see how far it'd go- of course cleaning up the mess so I don't get a littering fine.

99three

You voted Republican, didn't you.

Marlon

Virginia just enacted a similar law - I see it as a 'tax' to generate revenue for a seriously mismanaged DOT budget.

95 C4 993

Fine those who dont use a headset with their cell phone when driving and when your caught text messaging. For every excess speeder, you will find a 100 people using a cell phone without a headset or text messaging while driving.