The Ontario Provincial Police’s North East Region laid 520 charges over the Civic long weekend, with speeding infractions accounting for approximately 91 per cent of all enforcement actions across the area. Acting Sgt. Martin Thibaul confirmed the significant number of speeding-related charges with CTV News Thursday. “We had a total of 477 speeding charges over the past long weekend,” he said. The North Bay detachment reported some particularly alarming cases of stunt driving, making four arrests in just two days during the long weekend. Const. Kyler Brouwer detailed the circumstances surrounding the alleged stunt driving. “Four arrests were made regarding stunt driving – three were related to speed and one was related to performing a burnout,” he said. “The top speed that we (North Bay detachment) saw was on Highway 11, in the Powassan area, where one of our traffic officers stopped a vehicle travelling at 181 km/h in 100 (zone).” Other infractions Impaired driving emerged as the second most common infraction during the enforcement period. The North East Region contributed approximately 15 per cent of the 188 provincial charges related to impaired operation. Thibault offered unequivocal advice regarding substance use and driving. “We’re recommending no alcohol whatsoever and no drugs whatsoever, whether they’re legalized drugs or medication or illegal consumption of drugs,” he said. Additional enforcement actions included two distracted driving charges, one move-over violation and 11 seatbelt-related charges between July 31 – Aug. 3. Seatbelt safety emphasized Thibault stressed the critical importance of seatbelt usage for all vehicle occupants, noting the minimal time investment required for potentially life-saving protection. “Make sure you’re buckled in, and it takes seconds to buckle up, and could potentially save you from having serious injuries or possibly dying,” he said. Thibault further clarified the driver’s legal responsibility regarding passenger safety. “If you’re the driver, your responsibility is to make sure that your passengers are buckled in, even if they’re, you know, over the age of 16; it’s still the driver’s responsibility to make sure that they buckle in,” he said. Speeding Culture Provincially, the OPP reported 3,921 speeding charges during the four days, with the North East Region’s 520 charges representing approximately 13 per cent of the provincial total. Valerie Smith, the director of road safety programs at Parachute Canada offered CTV News the organization’s perspective on the nature of speeding infractions, challenging the notion that dangerous driving is limited to intentional thrill-seekers. “When we look at a lot of the crashes, of course they’re stunt driving and people that want to go fast, but generally it’s ordinary people that are speeding and end up in these collisions,” she said. “People speed not only because of their own driving behavior, but because of how our roads are built. Our vehicles are built to go fast. Our culture has made speeding feel normal.” Smith added by emphasizing the broader societal changes required to address dangerous driving behaviours. “Driving behavior is extremely important,” she said. “We have to slow people down, we have to change the culture, we have to get people to recognize that it could be their loved ones that are killed on the road and we can do that through driver awareness.” Smith acknowledged that achieving meaningful change in driving culture faces significant obstacles, particularly in northern regions where road infrastructure and speed limits may inadvertently encourage faster driving. The safety advocate pointed to highway speed increases from 100 km/h to 110 as one factor that communicates to drivers that higher speeds are acceptable.
