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e03nomist sun stouffrilfe tribune thursday aug 5 1999 9 police more than 240 charges laid in summertime blitz on bad drivers chopper keeps tabs on dragsters by kathleen griffin staff writer drag racers in york region savvy enough to monitor police scanners and post cruiser watchers had a little more trouble avoiding the eye in the sky last weekend in a threenight jointforces blitz 565 drag racers were stopped by york peel and ontario provincial police offi cers who laid a total of 243 charges and air one yorkdurhams chop per continues to play a big part in help ing police crack down on the risky high speed activity these people are organized and quite sophisticated they have their spies and their spotters- they monitor what we do said york region police chief julian fantino we had to find more strategic ways to deal with them and the helicopter works officers aloft can see where groups of racers are forming whether on farm fields backroads or in deserted industri al plazas they spot activity and are then able to direct the officers on the ground its far more effective fantino said traffic staffsgt al ledger said of the 243 charges 192 were related to illegal equipment and speeding 21 were laid under the environmental protection act for modified mufflers or catalytic con verters spewing fumes 18 charges were liquor related and five were for driving while under suspension two drivers were charged with impaired operation and three 12hour suspensions were issued ledger said the helicopter has been a boon for police especially in trying to nab the latenight racers it lends an extra set of eyes eyes that are looking from a different vantage point he said and while were stopping cars if they know a helicopter is there they think twice about engaging us in piux- suit this is the latest blitz in fantinos traf fic safety initiative still in full force across the region as police focus monthly on different aspects of the rot- ten driver aggression speeding run ning red lights and stop signs for exam ple fantino said officers are continuing to hammer home the message and that message is zero tolerance in may york officers laid 1200 charges for aggressive driving including speeding weaving in and put of traffic and tailgating in- the first three weeks of the july august residential streets cam paign more than 2300 drivers were charged with speeding and stop sign infractions and fined between 30 and 299 each the main reason we are concentrat- london cleaners established since 1929 20 off dry cleaning all year round only with ecotftstsun stouffwlle tribune 2942200 6402100 ing on residential areas now is because ifs summer the children are out of school playing on the streets more families are out walking dogs taking kids to the park ledger said we wanted to get out there and be visible new statistics show accidents are up 65 per cent injury accidents up 19 per cent while fantino said changes in pol icy have affected those stats such as the fact officers are attending every collision now rather than have drivers selfreport the sheer growth in the region will con tinue to present a challenge traffic calming measures like speed humps are just a bandaid solution he said we refer to them as accidents but 85 per cent of these incidents are totally preventable they happen because of inappropriate driving aggression dis obeying the rules of the road we also have to come to grips with the fact the public has total control over the out come bit by bit people will get the mes sage ledger agreed york region residentially and com mercially is one of the fastest growing regions in canada now we have the 407 through it people coming off all the 400series highways and a lot of tourists we live in a fastpaced society and everyone has to be someplace 10 min utes ago people have to slow down and be patient they should know we are out there aggressively enforcing the highway traffic act i ft i on is lift 1 2 os s3 co p4 2000 chrysler neon 4 door 22d pkg 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