Highway fatalities due to speeding, aggressive driving up 80%: OPP
Posted June 8, 2017 6:23 am.
Last Updated June 8, 2017 6:45 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The latest numbers from Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) suggest speeding and aggressive driving are becoming a major problem on highways across the province.
So far this year, police said 27 people have been killed on provincial highways due to speed and aggressive driving, compared to 15 this time last year – an 80 per cent increase.
“Aggressive [driving] and speeding [are] the No. 1 killer on provincial highways,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said on Periscope on Wednesday.
Schmidt said aggressive driving includes speeding, tailgating, following another vehicle too closely and making excessive lane changes.
Police are concerned because as the warmer summer weather arrives, it usually brings more cars and motorcycles on the road as well as higher speeds.
Speeding motorists were also a big issue for the OPP leading into and during the Victoria Day long weekend, which coincided with Canada Road Safety Week that ran from May 16 to May 22.
During the week, police laid around 9,400 speeding charges, 165 of which were street racing charges.
