(MIDDLESEX COUNTY, ON) – The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) issued thousands of tickets and investigated the loss of two lives during Operation Impact, a Canada-wide safety campaign aimed at saving lives and reducing serious injuries on roads through increased public awareness and enforcement of road safety laws.
The annual campaign was underway over the Thanksgiving Long Weekend and during that time, officers educated road users and enforced traffic laws associated with the “Big 4†causal factors in motor vehicle collisions: impaired driving, speeding, distracted driving and lack of seat belt use.
In OPP jurisdictions, officers laid a total of 4582 speeding charges and 48 stunt racing charges for driving in excess of 50 kilometers an hour over the posted speed limit. Other charges during the campaign include 204 distracted driving charges, 634 seat belt charges, 79 impaired driving charges and 916 other moving violations.
Throughout the long weekend, Middlesex County OPP responded to 147 calls for service, including 22 motor vehicle collisions and officers laid the following charges as part of the Operation Impact initiative:
Speeding – 38 charges
Stunt driving – 1 charge
Seat belt infractions – 2 charges
Distracted driving – 1charge
Other hazardous moving violations – 8 charges
Impaired/over 80 – 1 charge
OPP Inspector Tony Cristilli says, Despite the fact there were no fatalities to report in Middlesex County during Operation Impact