Spike in speeding tickets over long weekend

Drivers don't seem to be getting the message to slow down as Ontario Provincial Police handed out nearly 500 more speeding tickets in the eastern region over the long weekend compared to last year.

OPP handed out 1370 tickets between Friday and Monday for everything from speeding, impaired driving, failing to move over, and seat belt infractions.

Officers charged 1,312 drivers with speeding and another 39 for stunt driving — going more than 50 km/hr over the speed limit. Police only handed out 16 tickets for stunt driving during the same long weekend last year.

Police charged 832 drivers witih speeding last year during the August long weekend.

The number of tickets given out for speeding is far above what the OPP normally see, said Const. Guy Prevost with the OPP.

"People are not paying attention to the consequences of speeding."

Speeding is one of the 'Big 4' that contributes to collisions, along with distracted driving, impaired driving and aggressive driving, he said.

Charges for impaired driving up, failure to move over down

Police also charged 17 people with impaired driving and handed out seven, three-day suspensions.

There was also a big spike in the number of tickets handed out on Sunday, which is unusual, said Prevost.

Police handed out 488 more tickets on the Sunday than on the Saturday.

Prevost said more tickets are usually handed out on the Monday when people are rushing to get home after the long weekend, but that increase happened a day early this year.

Police also charged 26 people with distracted driving, the same number as last year.

Where people do seem to be getting the message is with the province's move over law.

The number of tickets handed out dropped to 63 over the four-day period, compared to 101 in 2016.

One death on Ontario roads

Despite the number of tickets handed out, the number of fatalities was down compared to 2016. There was only one fatal crash in eastern Ontario.

Samantha Stremmelaar 35, of Kitchener was pronounced dead after a crash on Highway 7 near Silver Lake Provincial Park, Monday, after her Subaru and a Dodge van collided head-on.

Last year, there were seven deaths across the province during the same weekend.