Busy long-weekend for OPP on the roads

Although provincially there were eight deaths on OPP-patrolled roads and highways over Canada Road Safety Week, which ended May 21, locally speeding seemed to be the bigger problem

 (KAWARTHA LAKES) While most were soaking up the gorgeous long-weekend weather, Kawartha Lakes OPP officers were kept busy monitoring local roads.

An officer clocked a vehicle exceeding the speed limit by 52 km/h on Highway 35 Friday (May 18), OPP say, leading to a racing charge being laid against 30-year-old Ami Abdelsayed of North York, who is scheduled to appear in Lindsay court July 10.

The following day, an officer laid another racing charge under the Highway Traffic Act after stopping a vehicle travelling 140 km/h in a posted 80 km/h zone on Highway 35, near Fleetwood Road. Kendall Meen, 24, of Newtonville is scheduled to appear in Lindsay court June 12.

The same day, an officer patrolling Garnet Graham beach in Fenelon Falls saw a man with an open bottle of alcohol, OPP say, leading to a charge of having open liquor in a public place under the Liquor Licence Act being laid against Matthew Bell, 27, of Cambridge.

Regardless of the above charges, Kawartha Lakes OPP may have gotten off easy, with the OPP reporting a total of seven people killed in seven separate crashes on OPP-patrolled roads and highways over Canada Road Safety Week last week.

“The number of tragic fatalities could have been much higher had we not increased our visibility and enforcement throughout the province. Sadly, even one death on our roads is one too many,” said OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis.

OPP laid about 8,000 charges during the Victoria Day long weekend alone. Of the total charges, 244 were for distracted driving, 6,358 were for speeding, 108 were for impaired driving and 698 others were for seat belt infractions.

Over Canada Road Safety Week, OPP laid 9,971 speeding charges, 1,262 seat belt charges, 837 distracted driving-related charges and 159 charges related to alcohol or drug impairment.