KITCHENER -- Speed and dangerous driving continues to be a major issue on local roads, according to officials.
Police say they stopped two drivers in Waterloo Wednesday night going 110 km per hour in a 50 km zone near Weber and Union.
One driver in Guelph was stopped after spotted by police going 133 km per hour in a 60 km zone. In both cases, no one was hurt.
“I want to remind people, those kinds of speeds in the city are absolutely ridiculous. And along those roads, you're sharing those roads and sidewalks with pedestrians and bicyclists,” said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt with the Ontario Provincial Police.
In both incidents, the drivers had their licences suspended and cars impounded for seven days.
According to Waterloo Regional Police, these types of incidents are a part of a disturbing trend.
“We have seen a large number of stunt drivers still. Just looking from September 1st until today, we've actually had 75 stunt drivers within Waterloo Region,” said Mark Hammer with Waterloo Regional Police Traffic Services.
OPP say dangerous and criminal driving charges are up from 400 to 440 across the province compared to last year. In the last three months, almost 2000 people across Ontario have been charged with stunt driving.
Waterloo regional police and Guelph police say they are conducting RIDE and traffic programs daily in an effort to drive the message home
“We have to all work together. Not only does it take a group of officers out patrolling the community doing that proactive enforcement, that speed enforcement to help curb the problem, but also we need the help of everyone else and that's in terms of making sure that they're driving the speed limit,” said Const. Kyle Grant with Guelph police.
“Choose to be that different person. Choose to drive slow, choose to drive the speed limit, choose to set that example for everyone else,” said Hammer.
According to OPP, dangerous driving remains the leading cause of deaths on the road.
Waterloo regional police say if you're out and you see someone speeding to pull over into a safe area and call their non-emergency lines. If you believe somebody might be under the influence, they say to call 9-1-1.
