‘Operation Impact’ police initiative launches for Thanksgiving long weekend

‘Operation Impact’ has launched for the Thanksgiving long weekend with the help of police forces across Canada.

The national traffic safety and enforcement initiative runs from Friday through to midnight on Monday in an effort to raise awareness on issues of roadway public safety.

All police officers, including Ontario Provincial Police and police forces in the Greater Toronto Area, will be paying particular attention to motorists whose driving behaviours fall into the four main categories of:

• Impaired driving
• Failure to use seat belts
• Speeding and/or aggressive driving
• Distracted driving

“Improving road safety and traffic flow for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists is one of our goals in support of the Service priority and commitment to safe communities and neighbourhoods,” a Toronto police press release said on Thursday.

“We all need to do our part to reduce these tragedies on our roadways.”

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On Thursday, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt helped launch ‘Operation Impact’ in the GTA with the help of police officers from Toronto, Peel and Ontario regions.

A Toronto police officer said they’re currently focusing on educating drivers and pedestrians to share the roadways, as there have been 48 pedestrian fatalities reported so far this year. In Peel region, that number has hit 17.

“In OPP patrolled areas across the province, we’ve had 239 road fatalities already, 182 of them were as a result of one of the ‘big four’; either aggressive driving, distracted driving, not wearing their seat belt or impaired driving,” Schmidt said.

“They are 100 per cent preventable.”