THUNDER BAY — With speeds as high as 102 km/hour, city police say they were catching speeders at a rate of one every 10 minutes on Onion Lake Road on Wednesday morning.
In the span of 40 minutes, Constable Tom Armstrong with the city police's Traffic Unit, says he stopped four vehicles who were observed by radar speeding well in excess of the posted speed limit; vehicles were clocked going 96, 90, 91 and 102 km/hr respectively when he initiated traffic stops.
The area of Onion Lake Road that Armstrong was observing is a 60 km/hour zone.
"Quite outrageous speeds," said Armstrong in a social media video. Particularly as road conditions were starting to deteriorate as the weather was quickly changing with the first few flakes of what became a spring snow storm that afternoon, he added.
In the video, Armstrong said he was out before 8 a.m. to see what drivers were doing on the rural road in response to complaints from local residents.
The driver caught driving 102 km/hour, more than 40 km/hour over the limit, automatically received a 30-day license suspension, and the vehicle is being impounded for 14 days. The accused is also facing speeding and stunt driving charges.
"Serious consequences for speed, once you reach those speeds — never mind the potential for catastrophe if somebody pulls out, a kids darts out in the road and you're absolutely unable to stop," he said.
Armstrong noted that in an emergency that stopping distances get longer the faster a driver is going.
He gave an example that if a driver was going 60 km/hour it would take them approximately 48 to 50 metres to stop the vehicle if a child were to run out onto the road.
If the driver that was observed doing 102 km/hour needed to stop in an emergency, it would take them approximately 110 to 115 metres to stop their vehicle.
Armstrong concluded his video by stating that the type of driving is "absolutely dangerous speed for this roadway," and that this is something that TBPS will continue to address.
