OPP taking part in national road safety week

OPP News Release

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All 165 Ontario Provincial Police detachments, including North Bay, Mattawa and Powassan Detachments are taking part in the annual Canada Road Safety Week campaign aimed at making our roads the safest in the world.

This year’s campaign runs from 12:01 a.m. on May 12 to 11:59 p.m. on May 18. As this is the first “summer” long weekend, more people will be travelling and traffic collisions are more frequent. Police vehicles will be stationed at key locations to remind people that safe driving habits save lives and reduce injuries on our roadways.

“The goal of Canada Road Safety Week is to increase public compliance with safe driving measures and, ultimately, to save lives,” OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said. “We will be targeting aggressive drivers, those who drink and drive and those who don’t buckle up. We will also be watching for motorists who don’t slow down and, where possible, move over when passing an emergency vehicle parked on the shoulder of the road with its emergency lights flashing.”

Last year in Ontario, 322 people were killed in crashes on roads patrolled by the OPP. Transport Canada statistics for 2006, the last full year available, indicate that 2,889 people were killed in collisions across the country and another 15,281 were seriously injured.

To date in 2009, there have been two people killed in the North Bay Detachment cluster. This is up from the same period last year where we had no fatalities.

“For many years, the OPP, along with police agencies across the country have collaborated to raise the awareness regarding issues of public safety on our roads,” North Bay Detachment Staff Sergeant Irving Sloss said. “We also use this campaign to demonstrate our commitment to public safety and community wellness.”

Canada Road Safety Week supports Canada’s Road Safety Vision 2010, a plan to make Canada’s roads the safest in the world by 2010.

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