OPP patrolling roads from sky to combat spike in motorcycle deaths

With motorcycle deaths spiking in Southwestern Ontario, provincial police are taking to the skies in an effort to make roads safer.

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There have been 39 deaths from motorcycle crashes on Ontario Provincial Police-patrolled roads this year – 11 of them in west region, an area that encompasses Southwestern Ontario, up from just one last year – marking a 10-year high for fatalities.

In response, the OPP is expanding its aerial enforcement program, an initiative that will see a Cessna 206 patrolling the skies to catch motorcyclists and other motorists driving dangerously.

“There’s been an increase in motorcycle fatalities and almost all are preventable,” OPP Sgt. Ed Sanchuk said. “So we’re going to be using the Cessna airplane in the sky as our eyes.”

The fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers is used to patrol Hwy. 400 between Barrie and Toronto, but the OPP also deploy it to other areas identified by traffic specialists.

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The Cessna is equipped with a sophisticated stopwatch that’s activated when a target vehicle passes a painted marker on the highway. When the vehicle crosses the next designated marking – set 500 meters away – the stopwatch is deactivated, allowing police to calculate a vehicle’s speed.

Using the aircraft is safer for police because it doesn’t require officers to travel at high speeds to catch up with speeding motorists, Sanchuk said, adding the provincewide campaign is targeting motorcyclists, but that doesn’t mean police believe all riders are irresponsible.

“We’ve got good ones and we’ve got other ones that put people at risk,” he said. “We’re just asking people, if you are operating a motorcycle, please make sure you’re always putting your safety as a priority, checking your lane changes, making sure you’re visible. . . and driving within the speed limit.”

Sanchuk declined to reveal any specifics of the crackdown, including how long it will last. “We’re not going to give that information,” he said.

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