On Tuesday, November 21 and Wednesday, November 22, 2017 members of the Upper Ottawa Valley Detachment of the OPP, with the assistance of the Killaloe OPP, OPP’s East Region Highway Safety Division (HSD) and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), conducted a two-day Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) safety initiative in the Upper Ottawa Valley OPP Detachment area. Officers and police resources were strategically deployed to locations on the Highway 17 corridor based upon local analytics involving CMV’s. Officers focused on mechanical safety of the vehicles and unsafe driving behaviours.
During the safety initiative, 69 CMV’s and 41 passenger vehicles were stopped by officers. Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) qualified officers conducted 35 inspections and as a result 10 vehicles were placed out of service for safety defects. A total of 107 charges were laid including the following significant violations:
• A tractor trailer driver stopped for following too closely while using a hand-held device
• A stunt driver travelling at 152km/h in a 90km/h zone on Highway 17
• Inspection of a CMV trailer revealed a critical defect resulting in the numbered plates being removed and a charge of operating an unsafe vehicle.
• 17 distracted driving charges and 17 follow too closely charges
“The Upper Ottawa Valley OPP will be taking a zero tolerance approach to driver inattention in particular commercial transport truck drivers who are not paying full attention to the road,” stated Upper Ottawa Valley OPP Detachment Commander Stephan Neufeld. “Our recent two-day blitz shows that we still have a tremendous amount of education and enforcement to do. We would like to remind all motorists that we are committed to their safety and ensuring the roads they travel in the Upper Ottawa Valley are the safest possible.”
