1,000 Charges Laid In OPP Blitz
Posted July 3, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Police pulled off a dramatic rescue on Highway 401 Sunday night after an SUV drove through a construction barrier in the eastbound lanes near Yonge Street and plunged several metres down an embankment just before 10pm.
“He crashed through the construction barriers, went about half a kilometre and then found out why the road was closed – there was no bridge,” OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley explained.
The SUV plunged seven metres and ended up in a valley and amazingly, the driver wasn’t injured. But he was arrested as authorities suspect this was an alcohol-related crash.
The OPP’s long weekend blitz continued Monday and motorists apparently still aren’t getting the message about the dangers of speeding. Woolley said the highest speed clocked on the highways this weekend was 200 kilometres an hour.
“That was a shiny red Mustang convertible, turned out to be a rental car. The guy said his driving record is so bad he can’t afford insurance on his own car so he just rents something,” Woolley explained.
Another driver was pulled over on the 400 Monday doing over 190 km/h. He said he was speeding because he was late for a rock video shoot, Woolley added.
“The song’s called ‘Easy come, easy go’. Kind of like his licence, I think,” he said.
Authorities are also conducting vehicle inspections to ensure dangerous cars are taken off the road. Woolley said about 200 unsafe vehicles have been removed from the highways.
He said one was a Honda with doors that were being held together with swimming pool rope.
Another incredible and very dangerous incident involved a man who parked his vehicle in the left lane Sunday and left his kids inside while he got out to relieve himself beside a bridge, Woolley said, adding another man parked in the left lane of the 400 to change a flat.
OPP officers have laid more than 1,000 charges across the province – 400 in the GTA alone – since the blitz began.
Police pulled off a dramatic rescue on Highway 401 Sunday night after an SUV drove through a construction barrier in the eastbound lanes near Yonge Street and plunged several metres down an embankment just before 10pm.
“He crashed through the construction barriers, went about half a kilometre and then found out why the road was closed – there was no bridge,” OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley explained.
The SUV plunged seven metres and ended up in a valley and amazingly, the driver wasn’t injured. But he was arrested as authorities suspect this was an alcohol-related crash.
The OPP’s long weekend blitz continued Monday and motorists apparently still aren’t getting the message about the dangers of speeding. Woolley said the highest speed clocked on the highways this weekend was 200 kilometres an hour.
“That was a shiny red Mustang convertible, turned out to be a rental car. The guy said his driving record is so bad he can’t afford insurance on his own car so he just rents something,” Woolley explained.
Another driver was pulled over on the 400 Monday doing over 190 km/h. He said he was speeding because he was late for a rock video shoot, Woolley added.
“The song’s called ‘Easy come, easy go’. Kind of like his licence, I think,” he said.
Authorities are also conducting vehicle inspections to ensure dangerous cars are taken off the road. Woolley said about 200 unsafe vehicles have been removed from the highways.
He said one was a Honda with doors that were being held together with swimming pool rope.
Another incredible and very dangerous incident involved a man who parked his vehicle in the left lane Sunday and left his kids inside while he got out to relieve himself beside a bridge, Woolley said, adding another man parked in the left lane of the 400 to change a flat.
OPP officers have laid more than 1,000 charges across the province – 400 in the GTA alone – since the blitz began.
