Police out in full force this long weekend for ‘Operation Impact’
Posted Oct 8, 2016 12:00:51 AM.
Last Updated Oct 8, 2016 06:45:17 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Officers from our provincial and local police departments will be out in full force this long weekend for the national campaign ‘Operation Impact’.
The annual campaign aims to make Canada’s roads the safest in the world and help curb the amount of preventable fatal collisions on our roadways.
OPP Sgt. Dave Rektor says Operation Impact will continue to focus on the main behaviours that put drivers, passengers, and other road users most at risk.
“1,507 people have died on OPP-patrolled roadways between 2011 and 2015 and the majority of those were preventable. They included drugs and alcohol, speeding was a factor, inattentive driving and of course, failure to wear a seat belt was a factor as well. We refer to those as the big 4 causal factors that cause fatalities on our highways and that’s what we’re trying to get through to people.”
Rektor says through Operation Impact, they’re asking all of us to use extra caution this weekend as the holidays are usually busier times on our highways.
“The holiday weekends are always a time when we know there will be a lot of people on the road. The Thanksgiving weekend in particular, this is one of the last long weekends of the warmer summer/fall season so a lot of people are making plans to travel all over the province and across the nation. Operation Impact will be in effect ALL this weekend and it’s a Canadian Police Partnership that will be targeting the 4 causal factors.”
Rektor adds that there’s lot of easy ways to encourage safe driving practices. and they’ll be focusing on impaired drivers, speeding, inattentive drivers and failure to wear a seat belt.
“The first thing to keep in mind is common sense, as it’s not that common anymore. We ask that everyone apply common sense and not out-drive their capabilities. If you’re on the highways make sure you’re buckled up, you’re driving fully attentive and sober and that you’re not speeding. It really isn’t magic or rocket science, we’re just talking about some very basic common sense behaviours behind the wheel that will keep everybody safe.”
Between 2011 and 2015, OPP’s data revealed that 321 deaths were caused by alcohol and/or drugs, 336 deaths were caused by speeding, 408 deaths were caused by inattentive driving, and 335 deaths caused by failure to wear a seat belt.
