Some young motorists are facing stiff fines after they were caught driving at excessive speeds on Montreal highways over the weekend.
Quebec’s provincial police, the SQ, said they handed out four tickets overnight between Friday and Saturday.
The first driver was intercepted just before midnight heading north on Highway 15, near Salaberry Street in Montreal. The 17-year-old, from Laval, was clocked at 202 km/h in a 100 km/h zone.
The teen was handed a $960 ticket and 24 demerit points. He was also given a $65 ticket for not having his driver’s permit with him. The vehicle he was driving was impounded and his licence was suspended for seven days.
Then, just a little after midnight, SQ officers intercepted a 23-year-old man on Highway 40 West at Chemin de la Côte Vertu. Police said the driver, from Prévost, was stopped for several violations of the Highway Safety Code.
Police said he was going 180 km/h in a 100 km/h zone and was slapped with a $1,564 fine and 14 demerit points. He was given a ticket for additional $322 and three more demerit points for having driven over an area marked with crosshatching. His licence was also suspended for one-week.
Just an hour later, on the same highway but near the Cavendish Boulevard exit, another 23-year-old man was caught speeding.
In this case, police allege the driver initially refused to stop when officers tried to intercept the vehicle.
He was eventually pulled over and given three separate tickets totalling $1,912 for driving at 170 km/h in a 100 km/h zone, breaching an area with crosshatching, and driving with the headlights turned off. His vehicle was seized and his permit suspended for seven days.
Police added that the Montreal North man could also be charged with dangerous driving.
The final driver, an 18-year-old man, was caught speeding during a police operation on Highway 15 North, near Édouard-Montpetit Boulevard, on Sunday at 2:30 a.m.
He was fined $1,564 and given 18 demerit points after being clocked at 151 km/h in a 70 km/h zone. The Pierrefonds man’s driving licence was also suspended for seven days.
Speeding remains a leading cause of fatal collisions on Quebec roads, the SQ says.
Quebec’s automobile insurance board adds that speeding reduces a driver’s field of vision, reduces reaction time before impact, limits a driver’s ability to avoid obstacles, increases the risk of losing control and increases the distance required for a vehicle to stop.
As an example, a vehicle going 70 km/h requires a distance equal to half the length of a football field distance before it can come to a complete stop.