Link: http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/08/05/6352921-sun.html

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One fatality up north, minor crash in T.O. amount to sterling weekend

By JASON BUCKLAND, SUN MEDIA

With the Caribana celebration and civic holiday this weekend, Toronto area roads were busy but, for the most part, problem free.

"With what was going on, and all the people we had around," Acting Staff-Sgt. Scott Collins said, "it went quite well, actually."

There were no fatal vehicle collisions in Toronto over the long weekend and only one in central Ontario.

A man was killed on his motorcycle in Orillia, OPP said yesterday.

And a man was put in hospital with minor injuries after a crash last night at Danforth Ave. and Danforth Rd.

The holiday weekend was not without its notable traffic incidents, though, as several drivers made decisions they likely regret heading into the short work week.

A driver at a Tim Hortons off Hwy. 407 got so nervous when he saw a police cruiser, cops say, he put his mom's car in reverse instead of drive and backed right into a lightpole, getting the attention of the very officers he was trying to avoid.

And a driver from New York was caught -- also along the 407 -- going 227 km/h in his Infiniti G37.

CORNY EXCUSE

When asked why he was driving so fast, he told the OPP he had just eaten corn soup and really had to use the washroom.

"I've heard about the ethanol in corn making cars go fast, but this was something else," OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley said.

All in all Woolley was very impressed with the weekend's collision numbers.

From this date last year, Ontario is down 30% on fatal crashes on the province's roads.

"That's about 80 less people that are dead as a result," he said.

Link: http://www.680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20080805_080220_8620

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By: Jaime Pulfer

Toronto - At least 5,000 charges were laid on the highways over the weekend, about a ticket every three minutes in the Toronto area.

OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley told 680News over 150 excessive speeders had their vehicles seized over the long weekend, including a driver from New York, who had passengers in the car. He was clocked at 227 kilometres an hour on Highway 407.

Woolley said that when the man was asked why he was driving so fast, he told the officer he had just eaten corn soup and had to use the washroom.

But, the street racing legislation, which went into effect over 10-months ago, has been getting a lot of credit.

The street racing legislation went into effect at the end of September and Woolley told 680News at least 80 people are alive because of it.

"If you can put this into perspective, that's 80 more people that are alive compared to the same time last year, so this isn't some little fluctuation," Woolley said.

He added that there's been a 40 per cent drop in fatal high speed crashes compared to the same time last year -- something he said he's never seen in his 30 years as an OPP officer.