Fewer Deaths Since Racing Law
10-01-2008, 10:56 AM
#1
Fewer Deaths Since Racing Law
Fewer deaths since street racing law
McGuinty, Fantino say legislation working, but critics suggest high gas prices could be a factor
Sep 30, 2008 04:30 AM
Betsy Powell
Courts Bureau
Since the street racing law went into effect a year ago, more than 7,000 drivers in Ontario have had their licences suspended and their vehicles impounded – and fewer people have been killed on the province's highways.
While Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Police Commissioner Julian Fantino say the law is working because fatalities are down, critics aren't convinced.
They say the downturn in the number of fatalities may not be because of the new legislation but could be the result of fewer people driving in the summer due to high gas prices.
From the beginning of the year to the end of August, 209 people had been killed in 183 crashes on Ontario highways, compared to 309 fatalities in 263 crashes in the same period in 2007, the OPP said in a recent news release.
OPP Const. David Woodford admits it's impossible to say for certain whether the reduction in fatalities – "speed-related deaths" were down by 40 per cent at the end of August from 118 to 67 – is due to the new law, but points out "a lot of our fatalities are the result of high speed and you are eliminating that by us taking the vehicles off the road."
Between Oct. 1, 2007, when the legislation came into effect, and Aug. 31, the most recent date for which statistics are available, police laid 7,013 charges under Section 172, the street racing provisions of the Highway Traffic Act.
The law states that "no person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway in a race or contest, while performing a stunt or on a bet or wager," and it gives police officers the right to impound cars and require the surrender of licence.
Of the charges laid up to Aug. 31, 2,896 charges had been disposed of and Ministry of the Attorney General statistics show 1,193 people were convicted under Section 172.
An additional 1,118 people were found guilty of speeding or "some kind of dangerous driving," but not for being "in a race or contest" or performing a "stunt."
Some 585 charges were disposed of by way of withdrawal, stay, dismissal or acquittal, but those people won't get their money back for the cost of impounding their vehicles, says Attorney General spokesperson Brendan Crawley.
"The new street racing provisions ... are designed to impose immediate consequences on those who engage in dangerous, aggressive and high-risk driving behaviour, and to protect other users of the roads from such behaviour," he wrote in an email.
"While a charge of street racing entails immediate administrative consequences, no one is found guilty of the offence until they have had their day in court."
Of those charged under the year-old law, 4,100 cases are still before the courts.
The fines levied so far have ranged from $45 to $10,000.
From the outset, critics have slammed the amendments as unjustly punitive and one constitutional expert says these statistics suggests opponents were not off base.
The amendments were introduced amid heightened emotions and political rhetoric after several high-profile tragedies blamed on street racing.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/508609
McGuinty, Fantino say legislation working, but critics suggest high gas prices could be a factor
Sep 30, 2008 04:30 AM
Betsy Powell
Courts Bureau
Since the street racing law went into effect a year ago, more than 7,000 drivers in Ontario have had their licences suspended and their vehicles impounded – and fewer people have been killed on the province's highways.
While Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Police Commissioner Julian Fantino say the law is working because fatalities are down, critics aren't convinced.
They say the downturn in the number of fatalities may not be because of the new legislation but could be the result of fewer people driving in the summer due to high gas prices.
From the beginning of the year to the end of August, 209 people had been killed in 183 crashes on Ontario highways, compared to 309 fatalities in 263 crashes in the same period in 2007, the OPP said in a recent news release.
OPP Const. David Woodford admits it's impossible to say for certain whether the reduction in fatalities – "speed-related deaths" were down by 40 per cent at the end of August from 118 to 67 – is due to the new law, but points out "a lot of our fatalities are the result of high speed and you are eliminating that by us taking the vehicles off the road."
Between Oct. 1, 2007, when the legislation came into effect, and Aug. 31, the most recent date for which statistics are available, police laid 7,013 charges under Section 172, the street racing provisions of the Highway Traffic Act.
The law states that "no person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway in a race or contest, while performing a stunt or on a bet or wager," and it gives police officers the right to impound cars and require the surrender of licence.
Of the charges laid up to Aug. 31, 2,896 charges had been disposed of and Ministry of the Attorney General statistics show 1,193 people were convicted under Section 172.
An additional 1,118 people were found guilty of speeding or "some kind of dangerous driving," but not for being "in a race or contest" or performing a "stunt."
Some 585 charges were disposed of by way of withdrawal, stay, dismissal or acquittal, but those people won't get their money back for the cost of impounding their vehicles, says Attorney General spokesperson Brendan Crawley.
"The new street racing provisions ... are designed to impose immediate consequences on those who engage in dangerous, aggressive and high-risk driving behaviour, and to protect other users of the roads from such behaviour," he wrote in an email.
"While a charge of street racing entails immediate administrative consequences, no one is found guilty of the offence until they have had their day in court."
Of those charged under the year-old law, 4,100 cases are still before the courts.
The fines levied so far have ranged from $45 to $10,000.
From the outset, critics have slammed the amendments as unjustly punitive and one constitutional expert says these statistics suggests opponents were not off base.
The amendments were introduced amid heightened emotions and political rhetoric after several high-profile tragedies blamed on street racing.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/508609
10-01-2008, 03:28 PM
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wow, politicians and police really do bend statistics to serve their own purpose. They can quote statistics all they want, but smart people know that they don't have any evidence to support the correlations that they have made.
10-01-2008, 07:52 PM
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I love this. It doesn't matter that the guy that passed me on an on-ramp this morning was shaving nor the lady putting her makeup on while doing 125 in a 90 or the car full of 16-19 year old girls were all texting on their phones on way to high school; it's because I'm speeding that people die all over the safe and perfect roads of Ontario. Speed is a factor of all collisions on every road, if they weren't driving there would be no collisions. Well, yeah. I guess I should just stop eating as well since I'm going to die sooner or later anyhow.
God I love our Government.
God I love our Government.
Last edited by Sanguine; 10-01-2008 at 07:55 PM.
10-01-2008, 09:28 PM
#6
Yeah, I really hate when all these accidents, they always quote "It is believed speed was a factor in the accident"
****, as you put it, if no one was moving, there would be no accidents! Of course there was speed involved. But they word it carefully as to not **** people. That sentence does not explicitly say anything about "high speed, or illegal speed", but simply "speed". But because of the way it's used in the paragraph, the context of it implies "speedING" without even having to mention that explicitly.
The media gets away with so many things with implicit English writing
****, as you put it, if no one was moving, there would be no accidents! Of course there was speed involved. But they word it carefully as to not **** people. That sentence does not explicitly say anything about "high speed, or illegal speed", but simply "speed". But because of the way it's used in the paragraph, the context of it implies "speedING" without even having to mention that explicitly.
The media gets away with so many things with implicit English writing
10-02-2008, 12:09 AM
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i really enjoy the fact when they say speeding was a factor. they class speeding as anything over the posted speed limit your doing a 107 in a 100 and have a accident it was speed related. i drive a shitload around 1300km a week dont worry not all in my 8. it takes a min of 2 things to go wrong for an accident to happen and if your driving slow enough you have more time to correct its that simple. they should be charging the people that like driving with out their lights on in heavy rain like tonight. they should be charging people that signal one way while turning the other i see this quite often. they should be charging the people that are doing things incorrect not the people speeding. thu people speeding and doing things incorrect are the most dangerous of them all. btw ive slowed down since this new law i no longer travel at speeds of 50km+ for extended periods of time but 49 over the speed limit quite often still. i believe accidents happen when people aren't paying attention to the road and when going 50km over the speed limit your paying close ******* attention to the road
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