(SOUTHERN BRUCE COUNTY, ON) – OPP officers were kept busy over the Thanksgiving weekend during the national four-day traffic safety initiative called Operation Impact. Enforcement efforts appear to be having an impact because preliminary statistics indicate that the number of charges in two of the four main causal factors in motor vehicle collisions is down over the same period last year. 
 

What is alarming to police after this long weekend is that the number of stunt-driving charges on Ontario roads is up 71 per cent over the same period last year. 
 

Speeding and distracted-driving charges are down; however, police report the number of seatbelt and impaired-driving charges is up. Across the province, 478 seatbelt charges were laid, and 83 people were charged with impaired driving. Four people lost their lives this weekend in fatal motor vehicle collisions; speed was a factor in two of the deaths, and in one of the fatalities, alcohol was involved. 
 

Locally, the South Bruce OPP laid eight seatbelt charges, 49 speeding charges and one distracted-driving charge. Two motorists received warn range suspensions, and one driver was charged with impaired driving. Officers attended two motor vehicle collisions, with no injuries reported at either scene.
 

“I find the weekend statistics alarming," says chief superintendent Chuck Cox, OPP Highway Safety Division. "Following the OPP’s annual Fall Seatbelt Campaign that began in late September and resulted in almost 5,500 seatbelt-related charges being laid, it is disappointing to learn that people are still not wearing a seatbelt. Motorists in this province know that wearing a seatbelt can save your life. It is senseless for anyone to be in a moving motor vehicle without buckling up. OPP officers will remain vigilant beyond any traffic safety campaign to ensure that Ontario’s roads are the safest in the country.”
 

The OPP is reminding all motorists to start preparing their vehicles for winter, and to be prepared to drive according to extreme and changing weather conditions in the months ahead.