In the wake of recent tragedies involving street racing, OPP Commissioner Fantino has some new ideas to stop street racing. One of them is to employ planes that would be used to track and take down speeders. He has seen this in action in Ohio and believes it would be a good application in Ontario. The second suggestion is to create a speeding cap of 50 km/h over the limit. If a driver is caught exceeding the limit by more than 50 km/h, their vehicle would be seized by the police. You can also read other thoughts on these ideas in a Toronto Star Voices segment.
The suggestion using planes seems to be reasonable and quite logical, given the fact that it is already working in another city. Also, since many of the roads in the GTA are patrolled by helicopters (at least according to signage they are; I personally have never seen a high-speed car/helicopter chase), the jump to planes seems like a natural progression.
A hard-line implementation of the speeding cap, however, would be ill-advised. Certain circumstances, including medical emergencies that require immediately rushing someone - an injured individual or a pregnant woman for instance - make driving above the speed limit imperative. Putting the police officer in a situation where they have to seize the car of a man trying to get his wife to the hospital while she is in labour is simply asking for public relations problems. Instead, I would suggest a discretionary clause be available, whereby the officer can use their best judgment and charge accordingly.
Also of concern would be sudden changes in speed limit. There are places all over the GTA where the limit drops by 20 or even 30 km/h, and while there are signs warning of the change, sometimes they are missed because the driver's attention is elsewhere (pedestrians or other vehicles being legitimate distractions, but things like the radio and cell phones can also cause them to miss signage). In these cases, labeling the driver a street racer by seizing their vehicle seems a bit harsh. Again, a discretionary clause would allow an officer at the scene to make a judgment call.
However, despite the potential for loss of property, the ideas are likely to at least give pause to some street racers and high-speed drivers the next time their foot presses the accelerator. And if that means fewer traffic accidents, I think that makes these ideas good ones.
Street racing has become a real problem here. I believe it was just last week that two US drivers had their pumped-up street racers confiscated just north of the city by OPP. I live close to the 401 and often see the helicopters doing patrol (they exist) and I'm all for a plane doing grid or rounds during peak "race" times. All signs point to the 400 series of highways becoming popular with out-of-town street racers. This is a scary thought. Bring on the planes because this dangerous "sport" is beyond dangerous, it's deadly and on our streets.
If the speed law had the discretionary clause, I think it could work.
Posted by: motherbumper | June 28, 2007 at 08:36 AM