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More than 500 Toronto drivers have lost their licences and rides since street-racing legislation took effect last September, according to new statistics.
A total of 505 Toronto drivers have been nabbed under the new act, which gives police the authority to seize vehicles and suspend the drivers' licence for seven days, the Ministry of Transportation told police.
Sgt. Tim Burrows of Toronto Police traffic services calls the numbers "obscene," but hopes this serves to inform people this not just an OPP issue, but also a provincial issue.
"There is a very small percentage of us who have no regard for the public's safety or their lives or the lives of everyone else," he said, adding that one and a half drivers are charged every day on city streets.
Bill 203 took effect Sept. 30, 2007 and defines street racing as travelling 50 km/h above the posted speed limit and stunt racing as any aggressive driving habits or manoeuvres.
"This is the extreme driving," Burrows explains. "The drifting, the break stands, the aggressive lane changes; anything that's beyond normal carelessness."
It is not just lead-foot Toronto drivers breaking the law, provincial statistics indicate that 5,351 people have been charged since September 2007
The age of offenders range from 16- to 85-years-old. Of the more than 5,000 charged, 5,054 are men and the most frequently occurring age is 21.
Though the words street racing conjure up images of souped-up sports cars gathering in the middle of the night for quick drags down quiet streets, Burrows says the opposite is true.
"We don't have a lot of actual street racers. The majority of it is the yahoos looking for a good time, speeding from point A to point B."
Toronto police are taking the numbers seriously and encouraging anyone who witnesses dangerous or extreme driving to report it to police immediately by calling 911.
