 | Many Ontarians will be eager to head out for one of their last summer outings this coming Labour Day weekend and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) know how easily eagerness can translate to careless behaviour, poor judgment and ultimate tragedy on roads, waterways and trails.
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Orillia - Aug. 31, 2011 - Many Ontarians will be eager to head out for one of their last summer outings this coming Labour Day weekend and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) know how easily eagerness can translate to careless behaviour, poor judgment and ultimate tragedy on roads, waterways and trails.
The OPP conducted unprecedented enforcement over the Victoria Day, Canada Day and Civic Holiday long weekends this year (2011) and despite their ramped up efforts, tragic deaths and serious injuries have continued to make their way into the statistics books over the spring and summer months.
With one summer long weekend left and kids about to start a new school year, the OPP are set to do everything within their means and available resources to keep the year-to-date fatality and injury statistics as low as possible. The OPP will be highly visible on highways, roads, lakes, rivers and trails targeting impaired drivers, distracted drivers, aggressive drivers, those who are not in compliance with restraint laws.
As a means of encouraging discussion with the public, the OPP has been increasing its use of social media to encourage Ontarians to share their views about OPP traffic safety initiatives and public education campaigns we undertake to keep our highways and roadways safe.
Posting traffic safety initiatives and other news on popular social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook about how we keep Ontario safe is fast becoming an integral part of how we do business. It is helping us to be more effective by allowing us to reach out directly to the public and address issues or misconceptions while raising awareness and generating public viewpoints and questions about the many laws we enforce.
The OPP encourages the public to sign up and participate in our social media discussions by following the links to our social media accounts posted on the front page of the OPP website.
“With distracted driving being added to the list of causal factors in preventable deaths and injuries, our officers have faced as difficult a task as ever in enforcing laws on our roads, waterways and trails this year. Our long weekend enforcement this past year has been as ambitious as ever and we have every intention of carrying this momentum through out and beyond the Labour Day weekend," said OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis.
“By this time of year, our officers have become familiar faces to many Ontarians on long weekends and this coming weekend will be no different. The proof that people need to stop endangering the lives of others lies in the hefty number of charges we laid this time last year. With eight tragic deaths and almost 10,000 charges being laid last Labour Day weekend (2010), we know how important it will be to maintain a strong presence throughout the province,” said OPP Deputy Commissioner Larry Beechey, Provincial Commander, Traffic Safety and Operational Support.
CURRENT NUMBERS:
The OPP has investigated 44,917 reportable motor vehicle collisions (MVC) this year on OPP-patrolled roads; an increase of 6.3% from the 42,271 for the same time in 2010.
192 persons have been killed in MVCs on OPP-patrolled roads; a decrease of 7.2% from the 207 for the same time in 2010.
9,049 people have been injured in MVCs on OPP-patrolled roads; a decrease of 3.8% from the 9,405 over 2010.
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