Map of the Week: Street racing (part one)

AARON LYNETT/TORONTO STAR

Licence suspensions for street racing, September 30, 2007 to September 12, 2008, per 1,000 by postal area.

In the Greater Toronto Area, street racing (map) seems to be centred in the area of Peel between Orangeville and Brampton, spilling over into nearby areas of York Region around Kleinburg and Woodbridge.

The one standout exception to the general pattern is M5J, the postal area that takes in the waterfront condos downtown. This is, I hope coincidentally, the neighbourhood across Yonge St. from the Toronto Star. M5J has the third-highest rate in the GTA, and (not to give away next week's map) the fifth-highest rate in the province.

Other than M5J, there is no clear concentration in the 416 area code, other than M2L, in the Bayview and York Mills area.

One interesting thing is that this map doesn't have very much in common with the GTA impaired driving map. Accused street racers seem concentrated in one area, mostly, while impaired drivers are spread all over the GTA with higher numbers in more car-dependent areas.

Low-population L0L, along the 404 in Whitchurch-Stouffville, had only three suspensions during the period but is included on the map out of consistency.

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Information was obtained from the Ministry of Transportation under access-to-information legislation.

Comments

[moof]

There's a number of long straight downhill roads along the escarpment in Caledon, most of which are are posted at 60 km/h. I wonder if the new expanded provincial definition of street racing (one car at 50 km/h above the limit) combined with low speed limits (similar roads are posted at 60, 70 and 80) and the geography (it's easy to pick up enough speed coasting down those roads to qualify as street racing) is a contributing factor.

[John Stewart]

Since Ontario has redefined "street racing" to mean just about anything. Does this map really mean anything?

Do you have incident on this map, where teenagers were charged with street racing, because they waved to each other at an intersection and police officer interpreted it as starting a "race"?

[Dhani]

How exactly is this relevant to real "street racing"? Ontario has redefined the meaning to mean almost any act on wheels.

I want to know the areas where two or more cars actually race each other and cause a danger to the public. Does the MTO give you such defined information or is this just the bogus data from the "street racing" charges/licence suspensions from HTA 172?

[SleeplessOnSteeles]

Anyone with any sort of idea of what's going on in this city knows that most of the street racing happens along the Peel/York boundary. Be it through simple observation or word or mouth knowledge. That should not be a shock to anybody.

I think the offences found in the downtown core stem from the Gardiner expressway, the charges do seem to be centred on that corridor. I have seen numerous drivers treating the Gardiner as their own personal launching pad.

[nrg3k]

This is completely misleading. This map is not for street racing, but the commonly understood meaning, its for speeding incidents, based on the HTA172 meaning... I'd like my 3 mins back for wasting my time reading the article and looking at the map.

[Paparazzi]

It is well known that Peel Region has a low crime rate and high per-capita number of police officers. This map simply proves that Peel cops are more efficient at handing out speeding tickets. (The Highway Traffic Act now defines racing as exceeding the posted speed limit by 50 km/h).

If speeding laws were enforced more uniformly, I'm sure that the map for "racing" convictions would look similar to the map for DUI convictions, with a more uniform distribution across Southern Ontario.

[Anonymous]

As everybody said. This is completely irrelevant. It is the "stunt driving" charge not "street racing" that cops are giving. THe "Stunt driving" definition includes everything under the sun (wheels losing traction while turning, going too slow for traffic, making a left turn before the other traffic starts moving, etc etc etc).

Yes all of those include suspensions and are charges under s.172, simply because it is an instant suspension and income for the government and insurance companies, rather than the officer having to PROVE the case in court before any action. Win your case? Congratulations, you still have a suspension on your record plus at least $1000 in impound and license fees, not to mention the insurance increase you'll see next year.

The government needs to change this, but before that happens somebody needs to sue Fantino (breach of public trust, lieing to the public, lieing to government, anything else anybody can think of?) and he needs to be removed from his post, or we'll get more ridiculous legislation like this (ie. have an accident in snow and your insurance company isnt responsible for paying even though you have COLLISION coverage).

Enforce the laws we ALREADY have and there wont be a problem.
1) 50km+ over the limit under s.128 involved a court date and heavy fine
2) Unnecessary slow driving was already a charge (yet cops dont charge anybody under this, these people keep the highways clogged by going 90 in a 100)
3) CARELESS DRIVING is already a charge (referring to his "driving according to conditions" argument).

ENFORCE what we have
REMOVE Fantino or at least have REAL public input and comment sessions, not a 1 week online posting.
Legislation should be backed up by REAL evidence not made up numbers. ("In the US speed is related to a lot of deaths"... yes, but not in comparison with the PERCENTAGE. SPeed = 0.12% of deaths, Alcohol is 12%, and FATIGUE is 21%. Yet we choose to suspend speeding drivers).

Stop working for insurance companies and work for the people and the public.

[hogdust]

What a waste of a story. Being charged with 172 has nothing to do with street racing. Someone could have been charged for chirping there tires to contribute to the total number of 172 charges.

[ric]

How about a map showing the types of cars used in this completely stupid activity. I would be willing to bet that the majority are Honda's.

When I was a kid many years ago the idiot fringe speeders drove Volkswagen Beetles while the kids with really fast cars tended to behave because they were not inclined to destroy their large investment.

So why are such small poorly performing cars used in this activity ??

Because they are cheap which allows even poor, testosterone driven children to afford something they can speed around on the streets with and if they crash it because of their incompetence then why care, a replacement is cheap..

[thirdconcession]

Anonymous writes (10 January) above: "2) Unnecessary slow driving was already a charge (yet cops dont charge anybody under this, these people keep the highways clogged by going 90 in a 100)"
I adhere to the posted limit (except in blinding snowstorms, etc.) I drive to the right; hardly ever notice anyone else going slower than me. However, I am frequently tailgated; if a parade collects behind me, I pull over to let these vehicles pass by. When I read remarks like that made by "Anonymous", above. complaining, in the context of a discussion of speeders, about Police ignoring those driving 10k below the posted limit, the question arises, because I haven't encountered these, if the writers have paused to ascertain the speed at which the "slow drivers" are actually travelling? There is a philosophy which argues that because it is safer to drive "the speed of the road" I must do so also; but if one adheres to this philosophy, in the instance that to follow this practice one must exceed the posted limit, one is allowing other people to force one to disobey the law--the Highway Traffic Act is quite clear that even one km above the posted limit is in violation of the law--and it seems weak-minded to adhere to this line of thought, as if shoplifting is okay if everyone else shoplifts, cheating on tax returns is fine because the practice is widespread, etc.

[Terry Stainton]

Can we have a Chart showing Suspensions by Make of Car. I have some strong suspicions here...

[Dhani]

Caledon, lots of people do +100 km/h on Highway 10, and a long stretch of that has been posted at 60 km/h for construction this past summer.

Downtown, seems a bit surprising to most. It's probably where the Gardiner drops to 60 when it meets Lakeshore. Just like the 410 extension, and now 427 extension.

The common attribute with all these areas, is that the police now camp out in these transition zones to catch "street racers".

[Andrew]

Wow... how much did this study into the obvious and trivial cost? In other surprising news there's fighting in the middle east and in a surprising turn of events the economy is going down the tubes.

[wayne challis]

How stupid do the police and government think we are? This clearly has nothing to do with catching racers. How about a map showing where the increased revenue from this bogus law has gone!

[Speeder101]

I guess in our speed reading, no one has noticed that this is a map of where the offenders live, not necessarily where the offence took place. The information is from the MTO database, they do not (to my knowledge) collect the offence location - that is done by the police.

Further to some other comments posted, there has only been one unrepeated study that has ever said slow drivers cause accidents. There is no question that the speed a vehicle is going is the single greatest determining factor in how serious a collision will be. The faster a vehicle is going, the greater the likelihood that serious injury or death will occur. Speed may not be the "cause" of the collision, but it is the "cause" of most traffic deaths.

[McQueen]

Sounds like a money grab to me like usual by the Ont. Govt. Someone has too much time on their hands to produce such a foolish report. I think we all have better things to worry about like the recession and whether you have a job tomorrow.
Street racing or speeding will never go away no matter what the penalties are.
If you want to stop street racing that's been going on since the automobile was born, you need to open up a local air strip in different cities. At midnight, close down 1 runway, charge a small fee, have the people racing sign a waver stating that the city is not responsible for any damages or deaths and let the people race their hearts out. The line up of cars to race would be long and the city would make some extra cash. Something similar was going on years ago in the State of FL and was run by the local Police. They would close down a street, charge a fee for 1-2 hrs and let the people race. The lineups were unbelievable. If I recall, this was done once a week. BUT, the Police said that if they ever caught anyone racing on the street, they would be charged severely and loose their license. Funny thing, there was never any racing on the streets.

[T D]

I was one of the first people charged with street racing in Oct of 2007. It was a one car even and totally bogus. I spent 7 days with no car/pay, another 7 days in court, no pay and was found not guilty. Did I get any of it back to support my family in this appalling economy, NO! I defended myself incidentally. After the car was impounded I was taken on a car chase, as a passenger, in an unmarked cruiser up Hwy400 at up to 160kph after someone else. No seat belts, against the rules etc.. The driver of the car was smoking dope, he of course had his car impounded. In court later, because I had made an official complaint about my experience, OPP/Crown did their best to convict me. The driver we chased, who was stoned, has his speeding ticket written down to $300 and was never charged with the drug offence. Unfortunately most of my GlobalTV interview was cut in their anniversary presentation. That's how this stinking law/OPP works. My $3,093 lost due to my experience would certainly have fed my kids while unemployed.

[Jon]

TD you beat it simply because the police are not judges and cannot stay, the charges. Its up to the judge not the cops. Good for you, that might have got off, but I wouldnt try it again as Im sure you wont be so lucky the next time. As for the monitary that was lost thats exactly it, your loss. You have family, OMG maybe you had better think about them too before you try it again.

[J.A.]

My idea for anyone exceeding the posted rate by 25 km. is take their license for life, fine them $50,000.00 automatic & crush their prize car in front of them. Maybe, just maybe that would stop some of these yahoos.

[no one]

Jon, why stop at 25 over.
Really it should be death by firing squad at roadside for 3 KM per hour or more over.
That would fix them all up right ?
Maybe we can start imprisoning people for parking tickets, 'cause you know how evil they are.

Maybe if Fantino where a judge real criminals would get prison time for their actions, but its really not about that is it, no revenue stream from that is there.

I sure hope your post was in sarcasm, because if you where serious.... well than I really do feel sorry for all of us.

[Michael]

The rate for the waterfront area is so high (~2 times higher than anywhere else in City of Toronto) that one has to wonder whether it is due to some error or statistical artifact. As it is filled with high-rise apartments, and close to downtown and the TTC, one might guess that the rate of car ownership is relatively low. On the other hand, could it be that it has the highest proportion of young, single people (who are more likely to speed)?

[pcain]

Hi, Michael -

I thought it might be an error at first, or maybe one or two people with terrible driving habits and multiple suspensions, but the record shows they are clearly distinct people, as follows:

M 87 20 January 21, 2008 M5J 2008
M 88 19 January 25, 2008 M5J 2008
M 78 30 February 15, 2008 M5J 2008
M 75 33 February 29, 2008 M5J 2008
F 83 25 May 9, 2008 M5J 2008
M 76 32 May 17, 2008 M5J 2008
M 80 28 August 30, 2008 M5J 2008
M 53 55 September 5, 2008 M5J 2008
M 75 32 October 6, 2007 M5J 2007
M 57 50 November 4, 2007 M5J 2007
F 71 36 November 19, 2007 M5J 2007
M 61 46 December 31, 2007 M5J 2007

[dusty]

to no one/jon

sorry that you drive a smart car. but maybe if you saved for years to buy a $200,000 sports car you would understand why people want to drive them fast. also i have a problem with people speeding in cars that arent built for it. mind you if i see someone speeding in a car that is clearly built for it, staying in the left lane and not passing on the right i dont have a problem with it. nor do i think it should be the fault of the speeder because someone pulls out without checking their mirrors. but then again this is canada so we will put the blame on someone else. right ?
it can be done safely if you stay in the left, do not pass on the right unless you are in england and check your mirrors before you pull out.
oh and they set german highways at 180 km/h across all lanes some days and thats including delivery trucks. but they stay in the left and dont pass on the right because when they do it creates accidents. and this is coming from someone who has been/driven on it.

[dusty]

to td

maybe you shouldnt have been doing 160 then

[dusty]

look all im trying to say is if you are dumb enough to do it dont get caught and do it someplace where you wont hurt anyone but yourself and a ditch or even worse a tree.
because we all know there are no tracks to go to in toronto. or within 40 minutes. (hint to the goverment). although considering we are living in the blame everyone else country we will probably have liability issues.