OPP: Over 12,000 charges laid over Canada Road Safety Week 2023

“Thousands of drivers chose to make Ontario roads unsafe leading up to and during the Victoria Day long weekend.”

These are the words of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in the days following Canada Road Safety Week, which runs annually on the week of the May holiday, after the number of charges laid in 2023 during the campaign were up 35.6 per cent over the number of charges laid during the same campaign last year. In total, officers laid approximately 12,600 traffic-related charges from Tuesday, May 16 to Monday, May 22, 2023, according to the OPP, despite police giving advanced notice of the campaign and the increased policing of Ontario roadways throughout it. In 2022, the campaign resulted in 9,292 charges laid – 3,308 charges less than those laid this past week.

“Sadly, the OPP responded to seven road fatalities during the annual initiative, with three of the fatal collisions occurring over the long weekend,” the OPP said in a press release on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Noting that the results they’ve shared are preliminary at this point, the OPP said that close to 6,900 speeding charges were laid across Ontario during the Road Safety Week campaign. On top of that, more than 175 stunt driving/racing charges were laid in the same amount of time.

The OPP detailed further charges laid in relation to “road behaviour targeted during the campaign”:

• 245 impaired driving charges
• 144 distracted driving charges
• 124 careless driving charges
• 622 charges for not wearing a seatbelt (charges apply to drivers and passengers)

“The balance of the offences for which the OPP held drivers to account were the result of other unlawful and unsafe moving violations and driver actions,” the OPP said.

“The OPP thanks all drivers and other road users who did their part to help keep the motoring public safe during the annual campaign… and do so throughout the year.”