With fewer drivers on the road during the coronavirus pandemic, police in the Toronto region have charged at least 150 people with street racing or stunt racing — including a 19-year-old driving 191 mph.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has seen a rise in “stunt driving” cases.
An OPP officer pulled over a 19-year-old along the Queen Elizabeth Highway in Ontario for driving 308 kph.
“This is the fastest speed that I’ve ever heard of,” OPP Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said in a video posted on Periscope.
Schmidt noted that the speed limit is 100 kph (62 mph), and there are areas where it reaches 110 kph. The driver was going triple the speed limit.
“This is absolutely egregious for anyone to be going those kinds of speeds,” Schmidt said.
The driver was charged with street racing and criminal dangerous driving, and his license was suspended for seven days and his father’s car was impounded for seven days, Schmidt said. Licenses are automatically suspended for seven days and cars are automatically impounded for seven days for this type of violation in Ontario.
Another 19-year-old passenger was in the vehicle at the time, and both were released at the scene.
Other areas have also seen more speeding during the coronavirus pandemic.
Traffic analytics firm INRIX reported that drivers in cities in the US such as Chicago and Los Angeles are reaching speeds roughly 75% higher than the typical speeds before the pandemic.
