OPP looking for a fatality free long weekend

OPP News Release

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What better way to welcome in a safe summer season and the Victoria Day Weekend than with the convergence of National Safe Driving Week, Canada Road Safety Week and North American Safe Boating Awareness Week.

In 2008, over the Victoria Day Weekend, North East Region roads, waterways and trails patrolled by the OPP remained fatality free.

“The Ontario Provincial Police is geared up and ready to patrol highways, waterways and trails to ensure the safety of Ontario’s residents and visitors” stated Chief Superintend Scott Tod at today’s traffic safety news conference in Sudbury. “My concern is for early season boaters. Don’t be fooled by warming weather, the frigid waters of May pose a real danger. Expect the unexpected and wear a lifejacket, always.”

“Our traffic safety goal of a fatality free weekend is straightforward one,” states Inspector Garry MacPherson, Highway Safety Division – North East Region. “All available resources and personnel will be deployed over the Victoria Day Weekend as we continue the crack down on aggressive drivers, those who choose to drink and drive and those who fail to buckle up.”

The OPP Aircraft Enforcement Program will be in effect on sections of Highway 400 and Highway 69’s cottage country. The easily identified highway markings permit the OPP to check a driver’s speed from the air, and motorists should be aware that the spotters will also be watching for vehicles, especially trucks, that are following too closely and weaving in and out of traffic, or using the shoulder of the roads to avoid traffic tie-ups.

Drivers caught driving at more than 50 kilometres over the posted speed limit will have their vehicle impounded and licence suspended for seven days – right there and then, even in construction zones!

Please keep our emergency services and police officers safe - remember to move over when passing an emergency vehicle that is stopped on the side of the road with its emergency lights activated – it’s the law.

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