[unimaginative2]

Seize cars at 50 km/h over limit: Fantino

COLIN MCCONNELL / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino announces a traffic program on March 15, as he rolled out the first black-and-white cruisers.

Jun 26, 2007 04:30 AM
Any Ontario driver going 50 kilometres over the speed limit should be considered a street racer and have his or her car seized by police, OPP commissioner Julian Fantino said yesterday.

Fantino also wants to call in air support. He wants to equip the OPP with planes to help enforce traffic laws – having witnessed himself eight aerial busts of Ohio speeders in a half-hour this past weekend.

His comments came after a flurry of street-racing crashes and policy announcements in Ontario.

Last Monday, truck driver David Virgoe died in an accident on Hwy. 400 allegedly caused by racers. Earlier this month, two teenagers were killed when Chevon Josephs, a 15-year-old driving a stolen car, crashed into a taxi they were riding in. In May, MPPs voted to increase the fine for road racing tenfold – to $10,000 – on the same day two racers received house arrest in the death of taxi driver Tahir Khan, 46.

Fantino said the OPP planes would pay for themselves in increased traffic fines and tens of thousands of lives would be saved.

But the past president of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals called Fantino's proposal short-sighted and ridiculous.

"A plane flying overhead is just not a good use of taxpayers' dollars," said Paul Allen, now a consultant on automotive issues. "(It) might be a good way to get the public's attention, but it simply isn't cost-effective."

Better, Allen said, would be a long-term strategy to educate the driving public.

Fantino stressed that police need to do more about aggressive drivers and said it won't be a hard sell to persuade the Ontario public that seizing cars and employing planes will save lives.

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In response to press questions, Fantino also urged the province to consider the acquisition of OPP stealth bombers with Civic-seeking missiles that can be used to destroy racers' vehicles from afar.

 

[Jayomatic]

I think the 50km/h over rule is just and fair. There should be no reason at all why anyone should be going that much faster than the limit. I wouldn't exactly call them racers but it should be punished severely.

I thought the current law was that if you were caught going 50km/h over the limit, it was an automatic license suspension?

 

[CDL.TO]

Fantino said the OPP planes would pay for themselves in increased traffic fines and tens of thousands of lives would be saved.

Seriously? Nooooo... he can't possibly believe those numbers. Just... wow. A plane would pay for itself and save not hundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousands of lives. Wow.

All of a sudden I kinda want to see him run for the Conservatives. "This new anti-gang law could potentially save billions of Canadians' lives and reduce crime on our streets by over 400 percent!"

 

[scarberiankhatru]

How about we equip cars with sensors so that if two cars going 50+km/h over the limit are detected close enough together, both automatically slow down, pull over, lock the doors and windows, and gas the drivers.

 

[unimaginative2]

CDL, they took that Fantino quote totally out of context. The next part was "...over the next 5,000 years."

 

[junctionist]

I'm concerned they're going to go after drivers who do 20 km/h over the limit as aggressively as they pursue people who do 50.

 

[Admiral Beez]

If you drive over the limit at all, you're breaking the law and should be prepared to suffer the consequences. My new job is in Kitchener, and I drive at about 120 kph the entire run from Cabbagetown down the 401. If I get a ticket I'd accept and pay it.

A little speeding is like a little shoplifting...sure you didn't steal a TV, but even if you took a Snickers, you've broken the law.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I wonder where Fantino stands on the matter of photo radar, which is probably a far more effective tool than say a freaking plane.

Perhaps he should start using them in the two hot spots of York Region. Ahem.

Adm:

If you drive over the limit at all, you're breaking the law and should be prepared to suffer the consequences. My new job is in Kitchener, and I drive at about 120 kph the entire run from Cabbagetown down the 401. If I get a ticket I'd accept and pay it.

And in the process of doing so, shown us how the spirit of the law is being disrespected - if I can pay for it, I can break the law. Wonderful lesson in ethics.

AoD

 

[ShonTron]

Yes, please bring back photo radar! Not only is it a speed enforcement thing, but your best mileage is somewhere between 90-110 kmh for steady periods. Photo radar should kick in at 120.

But McGuinty is too chicken, and Fantino's drooling about new toys like surveilliance planes. They'll only be used for catching speeders, right.

 

[junctionist]

If you drive over the limit at all, you're breaking the law and should be prepared to suffer the consequences. My new job is in Kitchener, and I drive at about 120 kph the entire run from Cabbagetown down the 401. If I get a ticket I'd accept and pay it.

A little speeding is like a little shoplifting...sure you didn't steal a TV, but even if you took a Snickers, you've broken the law.

The law is based off outdated safety standards of automobiles. I can accept the consequences, but I'm saying we can do better on our roadways than the situation we have right now. We ought to take Germany's lead. I also can't compare small scale speeding to shoplifting of any kind (except for the starving person who takes a loaf of bread), as the latter actually has a victim. A collective society has to always question its laws but also be prepared to accept consequences in the short term. This is the opportunity to rationally modify the law. We're either going to take one step forward of one step back.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The problem with bringing the speed limit up to 120 kph, for example, is that cars would now travel at 140 kph, while transport trucks would have trouble keeping up to 120 kph.

In NB, the highway speed was 110 kph, and everyone travels at about 130 kph.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

people need to slow the hell down.


the day will come when all cars are equipped GPS that sends speed and movement data to MTO. if you speed, go through a light or stop sign, you will get a ticket in the mail.


anyone caught racing at high speeds should have a lifetime ban on driving in ontario.

 

[ShonTron]

I'd be open to the idea for raising the speed limit to 110, and really crackdown on anyone going over 130. Just recognize reality, but also there's no good reason why should be going over 125.

In Huron County, the limits are 10 km/h over what is found in the rest of Ontario. On county roads, the limit is 90 - when Huron County took over Highway 86, the limit went up, but Highway 21, still controlled by the province, is 80.

 

[junctionist]

Technology allows us to improve efficiency. High speed internet is an example. You can't have a life threatening accident on the internet whatever your speed, but an educated driver can go at 120 without incident. Trucks can have lower limit, some American states have these laws. I'm in favor of a short term increase to 120 km/h, with a fine/demerit points at 140. That can be enforced to the furthest degree. In the long run, German style of education could be implemented, perhaps with variable limits depending on the section of highway, visibility and weather.

 

[Hydrogen]

I'd be open to the idea for raising the speed limit to 110, and really crackdown on anyone going over 130.

This is reasonable.

One of the problems is that too many drivers don't know how to use highway lanes. There are too many unmoving hogs in the far left lane, and too many people passing on the right side lanes. It amazes me how many drivers have problems with this.