Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Seasonal Driving Risks

As we approach the hectic Christmas season many people are traveling long distances home or visiting friends locally. During the festive season there are so many distractions from our normally hectic lives and opportunities to enjoy friends and families. Let’s make sure we do this in the safest manner possible. When driving in winter conditions excessive speed for the weather and road conditions is the primary factor of motor vehicle collisions. Almost all of these crashes are preventable. Drivers just need to slow down. Travelling a 80 km/ph verses 100 km/ph when the roads are icy or snow covered will not add a great deal of time to your trip, but the reduction in risk is huge. Let’s all get home and not end up in the ditch or worse.

Drinking and Driving Still a Problem

North Eastern Ontario has seen a number of tragedies in December as a result of suspected impaired drivers. Public education efforts over the past decade to get the message out that Drinking and Driving can and does lead to death on our highways has been intensive and wide spread. Only you can really control whether or not you or a friend gets behind the wheel after drinking. Sault Ste Marie Detachment has checked over 2500 vehicles in December and apprehended 2 impaired drivers. Three warn range suspensions have been issued and 12 road side screening tests conducted. How tragic is it to remember the loss of a love one every Christmas due to a foolish and selfish decision to drive after drinking. The life lost in many cases is not the drinking driver, but an innocent bystander or someone who chose to get into a vehicle with a drinking driver. Your police are doing their part to ensure you have a safe Christmas lets make sure we as individuals step up and do our part. May everyone in Algoma District have a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.

Driver Charged and Vehicle Seized for Stunt Driving

(Blind River, ON.) On December 23, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. while on routine patrol on Causley Street in Blind River an officer from the Blind River OPP detachment had a Pontiac Grand Prix enter his radar at 124 km/h in the 70 km/h zone. The driver 23 year old James Colin HOEBERG of Mississaugi First Nation has been charged with Stunt Driving 50 km’s or more over limit and Speeding 124 km/h in a 70 km/h zone. The vehicle was towed and has been seized for seven days. HOEBERG is scheduled to appear in provincial offences court on February 3, 2010.