Regional News
October 11, 2008 10:40 PM
320 charges laid since act came into effect
By: Joe Fantauzzi
The one-year-old, heavy-handed but controversial street racing law is a small but positive step in the right direction, a friend of York Region crash victim Andrea Pike said.
“It’s going to be slow,” Serena Leggo predicted of progress on enforcing the street racing law, adding she believes it could be the beginning of a cultural shift toward change.
Ontario’s street racing and stunting legislation under the Highway Traffic Act — whereby officers can impound your car if you are caught going 50 km/h over the posted limit — came into force Sept. 30, 2007.
The law mandates your vehicle be impounded for seven days and your driver’s licence suspended for one week if you are caught stunt driving or travelling 50 km/h or more than the limit.
Since the law was enacted, 320 charges have been laid in York Region as of last month, York Regional Police statistics show.
“Who on Earth needs to be doing those types of speeds?” Ms Leggo asked. “I’m not a perfect driver, but I’m certainly never doing that speed.”
Ms Leggo lost a friend in 2000 after Ms Pike was killed by a street racer after a crash on Woodbine Avenue south of Hwy. 7 in Markham.
Ms Leggo, a Mount Albert resident, had been friends with Ms Pike since they were 10.
Ms Leggo is the creator and administrator of a Facebook group, Stop Street Racing!, dedicated to the memory of Ms Pike.
The group has nearly 500 members.
The courts should consider tougher sentences for those convicted of street racing offences, Ms Leggo said.
She also doesn’t buy into the argument it is unfair vehicles are impounded under the street racing law before a trial is held.
“Having this happen with Andrea, I’m kind of on the no-tolerance side of (the argument),” she said.
The bottom line effectiveness of the law is difficult to determine because it is hard to gauge if the legislation has actually prevented major collisions and other street-racing related crimes, traffic bureau acting Staff Sgt. Brad Bulmer said.
“It’s a good tool for the officers to use at the roadside,” he said. “I think it has been quite a learning curve for the public.”
What the law essentially says is that when you drive 50 km/h or more above the limit, you are probably mitigating all of the engineering that went into the piece of road on which you are travelling, he said.
The features, sight-lines and other items, such as poles and trees, also affect the speed limit of the road and when you speed, you escalate risk, he added.
“You’re also saying: ‘My need outweighs the safety of the public’,” acting Staff Sgt. Bulmer said.
To put it into perspective, officers across Ontario have charged about one driver every hour of every day since the introduction of the law up to Sept. 30, according to Ontario Provincial Police.
As of Sept. 29, 8,549 people had been charged — 6,440 of them by the OPP, provincial numbers show.
Nearly 90 per cent of those were clocked at 50 km/h or more above the limit, numbers show.
“Some people still don’t seem to get it,” OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said.
Almost half of all deaths on the province’s roads are linked to speeding or loss of control, Transportation Minister Jim Bradley said.
“We have a simple message for those drivers who put others at risk by driving dangerously,” he said. ”Slow down.”