Fantino Scraps Long Weekend Traffic Blitzes
Posted January 19, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
“One woman was caught in her Mercedes doing 155 kilometres in the rain. Said that the devil got into her. Another woman said she had to do 145 kilometres to make her heater work.”
You don’t have to hear the voice to know who it belongs to.
The dulcet tones of Sgt. Cam Woolley railing on about Fred Flintstone cars have been gracing the media for years.
He has became the de facto face of the O.P.P. holiday weekend highway safety blitzes, regaling GTA residents with stories of dumb drivers on the road. He was a strong presence and a natural on TV.
And you won’t be seeing him there during the next long holiday weekend in May.
That’s because O.P.P. Commissioner Julian Fantino has laid down a new kind of law and will not only put a stop to the veteran cop’s anecdotes but also the weekend blitzes themselves.
Fantino makes it clear he doesn’t think traffic deaths are a laughing matter and he’s determined to redirect his force’s energies in a new direction – increased prevention and enforcement all year long.
“There’s nothing funny about all of this,” he insists. “It’s really serious, serious public safety concerns and issues that we’re dealing with.”
But while the government welcomes Fantino’s no-nonsense approach, they may not be willing to ease up on those weekend wars on bad drivers.
“He’s one of the multiple partners that participate, so if he doesn’t want to be part of it he will be missed but we see a lot of value in the blitzes,” counters Transport Minister Donna Cansfield.
Woolley contends he’s not in the least bit offended by the change and looks forward to getting back to his first love – full time law enforcement.
As for rumours that this was the start of a tug of war between an old soldier and his new commanding officer?
“I’ve known Commissioner Fantino for 15 years,” points out Brian Patterson of the Ontario Safety League, which takes part in the blitzes. “When he wants to talk to you he picks up the phone. He doesn’t send cryptic messages through third parties. If he had a problem, he’d have Cam in his office and that’s never happened.”
“It’s not about Sgt. Woolley,” Fantino agrees. “It’s about the O.P.P.’s vision going forward, and I’m not criticizing anything that’s happened in the past. I’m just telling you the way it’s going to be in the future.”
But for many faithful viewers a holiday tradition is gone.
“I don’t like the idea,” condemns one driver. “I don’t see the purpose of why he’s being muted.”
“I think they made a mistake,” adds another. “He did a good job”
Still, there’s a bonus for all this for Woolley. With the emphasis off the stats, he’ll finally be able to take at least the occasional long weekend off – something he’s never been able to do before.
Cam Classics
Here are just some of Woolley’s recent comments on the riles of the road.
“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.”
Canada Day 2006
“The song’s called ‘Easy come, easy go’. Kind of like his licence, I think.”
On a driver doing 190 km/h on the highway, Canada Day weekend, 2006
“The driver told the officers he has such a terrible driving record, it’s cheaper to rent a car than pay for insurance if he owned his own car. He’s licensed right now, but I doubt it will stay that way for long, because he was charged criminally with dangerous driving.”
Canada Day 2006
“Some guy from Toronto comes speeding into town on Highway 12, a map across the steering wheel, text messaging on the Blackberry, talking on the cell phone, smoking a cigarette while making unsafe lane changes, speeding past a police car.”
Victoria Day 2006
“One of the worst drivers … was a 25-year-old Newmarket man on his yellow Suzuki motorcycle, doing 160 kilometres an hour, zipping in between other traffic, with a police car right behind him. Then he pops a wheelie for half a kilometre. So he’s been charged with dangerous driving.”
Victoria Day 2006
“We’ve charged over 100 people with seat belt charges and they all say, ‘oh, I don’t have time to put my seat belt on.’ Well, they end up with time to get a ticket. We’ve got one guy driving with a teddy bear in his steering wheel. He didn’t have a good excuse for that.”
Labour Day 2006
“Highest speed, a guy doing 185 kilometres an hour. That’s with his seat reclined … One woman wearing one of those little Paris Hilton dogs. Said she couldn’t wear her seat belt because she wanted to pat her little doggy … I caught the first guy this morning about one minute after six. He had his gas tank held in with skipping rope, no floor, expired plates, no insurance.”
Victoria Day 2006
“One fellow was just caught a few minutes ago on Highway 400 shaving, talking on the cell phone and driving without insurance. Another guy had a bumper sticker that said, “I do bad things.” He wasn’t wearing his seat belt, bad enough, but he was driving under suspension and had no insurance.”
Labour Day 2005
“Actually the first guy I pulled over today had a big for sale sign in the back window. It said ‘For sale. Needs brakes.’ Well, there’s truth in advertising. Needed brakes. Needs a tow truck now.”
August Civic Holiday 2005
“I guess the most unusual thing I’ve heard of so far this weekend is, officer on patrol on Highway 401 noticed a milk tanker driving along. It was leaking milk. He pulled up alongside to signal the driver to pull over. There was a 7-year-old girl actually steering the milk tanker … Then the driver grabbed the kid. Now there’s nobody driving the milk tanker, and luckily there was not a crash.”
Victoria Day 2005
“We had a big crash this morning on the 401. The highway was shut down. Luckily, no serious injury, although it was a little strange. A guy drove his car into the wheels of a tractor trailer. The crash looked terrible but he’s going to be okay. He was charged with careless driving. His air bag didn’t go off though. It was because it was full of bags of marijuana. He’s been charged with drugs as well.”
Victoria Day 2005
“Highest speed we got here was 300 on a motorcycle. The other guy got caught doing 210 in his Viper passing on the shoulder. One lady doing 160 said couldn’t help it. She was wearing flip-flops. I think they must have been lead flops.”
Victoria Day 2005
“A Fred Flintstone car.”
Every blitz, after finding cars with rusted holes in the floorboards.
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