THUNDER BAY – Crimebeat – A Thunder Bay Police Officer had an interesting day on Oliver Road in front of the Regional Health Sciences Centre on Monday. The officer was on duty doing traffic safety in the Community Safety Zone. Oliver Road is a posted Community Safety Zone primarily because of the number of pedestrians and cyclists coming to and from both the hospital and the university. Penalties for offences within a Community Safety Zone are double the usual penalty.
In the four hours that he was doing LIDAR speed enforcement at that one location, he ticketed fifteen drivers going more than twenty km/h over the posted fifty km/hr limit, two were caught at more than 80 km/hr, one going more than 90 km/hr, and one at one hundred km/hr!
The officer’s efforts were close to the location of a recent serious auto/pedestrian collision involving a female university student who was attempting to cross the road. Had that involved driver been going at the speeds detected yesterday, Thunder Bay would have very likely had another fatal pedestrian collision very early in the year.
The driver measured at one hundred km/hr has been charged with both speeding and stunt driving, and has had his vehicle impounded for seven days. If convicted on all charges, he could face $ 2,700.00 in fines, and twelve demerit points on his licence, PLUS three hundred dollars for the towing and impound fees to get his car back.
Both of the highest speed drivers explained that they were late for work. Male and female drivers were equally represented in number.
Thunder Bay drivers can expect to see police out doing speed enforcement in all Community Safety zones, school zones and now with the warmer weather – in construction zones.