Hamilton police hand out more than 600 tickets for bad driving over weekend
Hamilton police handed out more than 600 provincial offences tickets over the weekend, responding to a spike in calls for bad drivers all over the city.
This included at least nine calls for street racing, said Const. Krista-Lee Ernst.
She noted the importance of people calling to report such incidents, as racing can be difficult to investigate if police don't catch a driver in the moment or there isn't clear video.
Among the tickets issued was one for stunt driving Saturday around 3 p.m. when a Chevrolet Camaro was clocked going 113 kilometres an hour in a 60 km/h zone on Ridge Road.
The 25-year-old driver from Mount Hope was charged with stunt driving. In addition to any penalties upon conviction, he was handed an automatic roadside licence suspension and had his vehicle impounded for seven days.
Under Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, stunt driving includes going 50 km/h above the speed limit. If convicted, a driver can face fines between $2,000 and $10,000, up to six months in jail and a driver's licence suspension.
Saturday marked the first day of spring, and warm, sunny weather drove people outdoors.
Other calls for service were down in Hamilton over the weekend, allowing more officers time to respond to the vast number of driving complaints, Ernst said.
The spike in traffic complaints and enforcement happened all over Hamilton.
Between Friday and 5 a.m. Monday, police responded to 27 Operation Lookout calls - these include erratic driving and possible impaired driving - and 48 other driving complaints, including aggressive driving, racing and dirt bike/ATV complaints.
Operation Lookout is a police program that calls on citizens to report suspected impaired drivers.
The tickets issued were nearly evenly split among the divisions with 127 in Division 1 (central), 113 in Division 2 (east Hamilton) and 129 in division 3 (Mountain).
In addition, the new traffic safety unit (TSU) was out responding to priority calls across the city. They issued 231 tickets.
Patrol officers and the TSU also ran RIDE lanes at 41 locations around the city, stopping nearly 1,400 vehicles.
Police have reported an increase in excessive speeding on city streets since the beginning of the pandemic.
Nicole O'Reilly is a Hamilton-based reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Reach her via email: noreilly@thespec.com