Hamilton Police handed out close to 500 speeding tickets over holiday weekend

Mississauga | Ontario | Traffic |

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Published July 7, 2021 at 7:43 pm

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Hamilton Police stopped close to 500 drivers in the city for speeding during a Long Weekend traffic enforcement initiative that focused on impaired driving and speeding.

From July 1 to July 5, police in Hamilton noted that there were 497 speeding tickets handed out over the Canada Day long weekend.

This is an increase from last year’s Canada Long Weekend enforcement, which ran from July 1 to July 6, 2020, that saw 419 speeding tickets handed out.

According to Hamilton Police Service’s Traffic Safety Coordinator, Cst. Stan Larkin, the increase in the number of infractions is somewhat surprising given that this year’s enforcement was one day shorter than in 2020.

“The biggest complaint service-wide is speeding,” he told IntheHammer. “But I’m surprised that we exceeded last year’s enforcement.”

In 2019, the enforcement initiative, which took place over an even shorter period of time (June 28 to July 1), netted 303 speeders.

So where are the speeding hotspots in Hamilton?

Larkin said major routes featuring multi-lanes, like the Linc, RHVP and major arterial streets through the city) are the main areas targeted for this kind of enforcement because “that’s where we get the most complaints.”

He noted that one North-East Hamilton road, in particular, is a real problem area for speeding and stunt driving.

“Nikola Tesla is one we get calls about constantly,” he said.

“Our goal for all our long weekend and holiday enforcements is to reduce fatalities and collisions on our roads.”

To that end, officers were stationed at 57 RIDE locations throughout the city and were focused on impaired driving and speeding.

In total, 2,156 vehicles were stopped over the course of the initiative.

There were also eight arrests for impaired driving, four collisions where drugs or alcohol impairment are considered a factor and five people charged for being impaired by alcohol and one person has been charged for being impaired by a drug.

Seven people were charged for testing 80 and above on a breath test, according to police.

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