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c economist sunsuntribune saturday april 5 2003 3 staff photosjoerd witteveen short on spring weather r craig baldwin still has hopes of spring as he clears the ice and snow from his windshield friday morning on main street in stouffville police blitz seatbelt use york regional police chief armand la barge has a question for you whats holding you back thats the theme of the annual spring seatbelt blitz launched friday morning in newmarket when the chief met with officers for akickoffevent the chief cited results of a road side survey indicating seatbelt use ranges from a regional average of 895 per cent to a low of 66 per cent ingeorgina that would indicate to us theres an incredible amount of work to be done to make our roads safer chief la barge said officers on the road will be tak ing a zerotolerance approach in ticketing motorists found not wear ing seatbelts the chief said fines for not wearing seatbelts can be as high as 110 and two demerit points he cited 2002 statistics indicat ing seven of 41 highway deaths in york region were attributable to improper use of seatbelts that translates into seven lives that might have been spared if peo ple had buckled up chief la barge said the chief identified traffic safety initiatives as a major item in the forces 2003 budget jeffmitchell wild winter weather causes havoc on roads by jeff mitchell staff writer enough already winter ambushed drivers this week as a storm combined with a shortage of plows led to more than 80 rush hour accidents across york region during two days of snow ice and freezing rain thursday morning 76 collisions seven of them involving injuries to drivers were investigated by york regional police between 6 and 8 am the nasty weather continued friday morning but there were fewer colli sions with seven accidents investigated by york police during the morning rush no fatalities were reported on regional roads said york regional police spokesperson steve morrell meanwhile ontario provincial police were busy with numerous colli sions particularly on the 400 series highways and roads leading to them said aurorabased traffic officer sgt camwoolley some of the roads hayjjeen in pretty rough shape sgl woolley said friday morning the provincial highways remain pretty good but some of the less trav elled roads have been treacherous sgt woolley said road conditions were exacerbated by a shortage of- plows thats because many of the pri vate sector contractors that maintain municipal roads saw their contracts expire at the end of march he said the reality is there are less plows out there for the whole gta he said this happened last year as well friday the second morning of lousy weather saw fewer motorists on the road as many didnt bother trying to make their way through the slushy morning rush hour he said the provincial highways remain pretty good hut some of the less travelled roads have been treacherous school bus routes were cancelled in york region and simcoe county and school buildings in some parts of the region were closed friday its a relatively typical snow day for the opp sgt woolley said weve had mostly minor collisions people going too fast and winding up in the ditch const morrell said winters sudden return should remind drivers to oper ate their vehicles according to the road conditions rather than their schedules everyone has been guilty in their lives of trying to make up time on the road he said its much better to be 20 minutes late and be there alive ems strategy wont work without ambulances by simone joseph staff writer york region should invest in more ambulances rather than emergency vehicles that cant transport patients to hospitals according to lome cowx vicechairperson of the local unit of the canadian union of public employees on thursday the regions health and emergency med ical services committee approved a plan to improve response times in york region by using emergency response vehicles to supplement ambulances the plan creates six deployment zones for emer gency vehicles and provides two more vehicles to serve king newmarket and richmond hill as of last june the region had four emergency vehicles for east gwillimbury georgina markham whitchurchstouffville and vaughan and up to 24 ambu lances for the region improve response times based on a need to improve response times regional council approved two more emergency vehicles and six fulltime paramedics in its 2003 budget the emergency vehicles are suvs such as jeeps which are driven by the high estlevel paramedics while the paramedics can assess a persons condition and provide care on the scene the vehicles cant be used to transport patients to hospital while the suvs are driven by one paramedic the ambu lances are usually staffed by at least two mr cowx believes the money would be better spent on ambulances we would like to see more ambulances on the road mr cowx said it the extra vehicles doesnt completely fix the whole problem he does not believe the extra vehicles will solve the problem of overworked para medics he added they get few breaks often having to work through lunch and past the end of their shifts he said the emergency response vehicles have their advan tages said gord mceachen director of operations for the ems following a presentation he made at thursdays com mittee meeting it gets our most qualified personnel to the scene soon er he said we think it can help impact response times it also allows ambulances to be redirected if they are not required mr mceachen said newmarket mayor tom taylor agreed the plan was a good move because it may lead to quicker response times we would like to see more ambulances on the road we think it can help impact response times the vehicles are also cheaper than ambulances he said pointing out running an emergency vehicle costs 300000 to 350000 per year compared to about 1 mijliori for an ambulance ambulance shortages have been a serious issue in the region in recent months in february ems general manager brad meekin warned the number of ambu lances in york region was i often dangerously low mr meekin blamed the shortages on a year of viral outbreaks and increasingly backlogged hospital emer gency departments paramedics are sometimes delayed when emergency rooms are overcrowded because they are required to stay with patients until the hospital takes over care last may a report to the legions health committee showed response times were decreasing in municipalities across york region but were on the rise averaging almost 19 minutes in king j0m now pen 7rqmrnm wi forthe 2003 season do you remember where you played your first game of golf were still here serving markham unionville and area forthe past 40 years april range special par3 special igenjirie 44 main street unionville 14 mile south at hwy 7 9054771148 no sharing 1 hour of unlimited hitting m0n fri 1000 am noon 5 1250 noon 400 pm 1500 bring this coupon for a free coffee with the purchase of 1 hour hitting 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