Over 8,000 charges laid by OPP during ‘Operation Impact’

Despite a warning from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), ahead of the long weekend, about increased traffic enforcement, those driving on Ontario roads were endangered by thousands of risky and dangerous drivers.

According to a release from the OPP, poor road behaviours took their toll on human life, with three motor vehicle passengers, a driver and a pedestrian killed in four separate incidents over the weekend. The OPP also responded to a boating fatality over the long weekend.

During the national Operation Impact campaign (October 7 to 10, 2022), aggressive drivers posed the most significant risk on roads, with the OPP laying 5,141 speeding charges and 116 stunt/racing charges, according to the release. Among other charges, drivers and passengers were fined for 318 seatbelt offences, OPP said, adding that alcohol/drug-impaired drivers received 153 charges under the criminal code while 69 of the offence notices were issued for distracted driving. 

In total, officers laid 8,088 charges on roads, trails and waterways throughout the province, police noted. The OPP reminds Ontarians that complying with all traffic laws is their best chance at preventing collisions, injuries and fatalities on and off the road.

Kingston Police also laid a number of charges over the long weekend, as part of Operation Impact.

Operation Impact is led by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, under the leadership of its Traffic Safety Committee, in support of Canada’s Road Safety Strategy 2025.