The OPP is ramping up traffic enforcement ahead of the long weekend.
Canada Road Safety Week kicked off Tuesday. According to the OPP, 76 people have already died in collisions on OPP-patrolled roads this year.
“We’re concentrating our enforcement efforts and education efforts on the big four causal factors of fatal collisions that we’re seeing all the time,” says Sgt. Jason Folz, media coordinator for Central Region OPP. “Those are inattentive drivers, speeding and aggressive drivers, alcohol-related offenses, and people not wearing their seatbelts.”
In the last 10 years, inattentive driving has caused 719 deaths, speeding has caused 679, impaired driving 615, and improper use of seat belts 565, according to the OPP.
Folz says the OPP is also ramping up seat belt spot checks.
“You might start seeing, closer to the long weekend and a little bit more this week, seatbelt spot checks,” says Folz. “Those look like officers poised on ramps and off ramps to major highways watching for people not wearing those safety devices.”
Folz encourages people to call 9-1-1 if they see a driver they think might be impaired.
Canada Road Safety Week runs until May 24.