Speeder's rental car impounded in Laird Twp

OPP NEWS RELEASES

************************* Speeder has rental car impounded

LAIRD TWP, ON - A member of the OPP Traffic and Marine Unit impounded a driver's rental vehicle after he found many traffic violations.

On Monday October 3, 2007 at about 11:30 a.m. the officer was conducting traffic patrols in Laird Township.

He clocked an eastbound vehicle at 55 kilometers over the speed limit.

The car was pulled over and it was discovered that a two-year-old child was sitting on the lap of a passenger, totally unrestrained.

Further investigation found that the driver did not have a driver’s licence and two other passengers, under 16 years of age, were also not wearing their seat belts.

As a result of this stop, the female driver, 21-year-old Nomagugu Subanda, of Edmonton, Alberta faces speeding and seat-belt charges.

Her rental vehicle has been impounded for the next seven days and her driver's licence has been suspended for seven days.

At the request of the travelers the family was dropped off at a local food establishment in Sault Ste. Marie.

Ms. Subanda has been summonsed to court for November 21.

************************** OPP impounds 175 vehicles during Operation Impact

ORILLIA, ON - (October 9) - The Ontario Provincial Police impounded 175 vehicles and seized 175 drivers' licences over the Thanksgiving week as part of Operation Impact, Commissioner Julian Fantino said.

"The new legislation allowing us to seize a car and the driver's licence is a powerful tool that will help all police services combat speeding, street racing and aggressive driving," Fantino said. "Unfortunately, too many motorists still don't believe we will take their car and licence if they are caught doing more than 50 kilometres over the posted speed limit or if they are making unsafe turns, racing and doing wheelies on a motorcycle as well as other dangerous manoeuvres."

"They're quickly finding that we will," he said. "We're unrelenting. We're not going to give up. We're going to do whatever it takes to change people's inappropriate driving habits, one dangerous driver at a time if that's what it takes."

The OPP has impounded 269 vehicles and suspended 269 drivers' licences since the legislation (Bill 203) came into effect September 30. Friday afternoon, a motorcyclist was clocked at 210 kilometres per hour in a posted 100 kph zone on Highway 400.

He passed an OPP cruiser doing 180 and then sped up when police gave chase.

He was finally stopped when he collided with a cruiser at the Highway 7 exit.

He faces numerous charges and had his motorcycle and licence seized.

In western Ontario, OPP aerial surveillance tracked one motorist driving in an aggressive manner, making unsafe lane changes, tailgating and cutting off other drivers and speeding.

He was charged with careless driving and also received a 12-hour licence suspension for failing a roadside breath test.

He was one of six motorists who had their vehicle impounded in the Chatham-Kent area.

One motorcyclist that was stopped has 30 convictions, 21 for speeding (one of those was for doing 164 kph in a 100 kph zone), one for no insurance, one for careless driving and one for driving while his licence was suspended.

Yesterday, a SUV weaving in and out of traffic on Highway 400 southbound rolled when the woman driver lost control, sending the driver to hospital and her passenger to a Toronto hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The highway was closed for several hours during the height of the afternoon traffic returning from cottage country.

The vehicle and the driver's licence were seized under the new legislation.

Overall this year, 361 people have been killed on roads the OPP patrols, compared to 343 last year, a 5.2 percent increase.

Of that total, excessive speed was involved in 111 of the deaths, up from 89 last year, a 24.7 percent increase.

Non-use of seatbelts resulted in 99 deaths, up 33.8 percent from the 74 deaths in 2006.

Alcohol played a part in 65 deaths, a 41.3 percent increase over 2006 when 46 people had died in alcohol-related crashes.

Four people died on highways patrolled by the OPP over the long weekend, compared to five last year.

There was one marine death this year, none in 2006 and there was one ATV fatality this year, as opposed to none in 2006.

In addition, the OPP laid 5,087 speeding charges, 619 hazard moving violations, including careless driving, 506 seatbelt violations and issued 127 12-hour suspensions over the three days.

Ministry of Transportation inspectors took 196 vehicles out of service, laid 138 charges and removed the plates from 65 vehicles over the weekend.

"The OPP is working hard every day to change the driving public's behaviour and get people to slow down, wear seatbelts and not drive aggressively," Chief Superintendent Bill Grodzinski, commander of the highway safety division said.

"Unfortunately, some still aren't getting the message so until they do we will continue to use all available resources, including impounding vehicles and seizing drivers' licences for up to seven days," said Grodzinski.

The OPP annually participates in Operation Impact, a Canada-wide campaign aimed at making the nation's highways the safest in the world.

The Thanksgiving weekend traditionally is one of the busiest on Ontario highways, trails and waterways as people head to cottage country for the final long weekend of what is referred to as the summer driving season.

Operation Impact is supported by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Transport Canada and is part of Road Safety Vision 2010, which has a goal of making Canada's roads the safest in the world by 2010.

It is also part of the OPP's provincial traffic safety program.

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