Toronto police will be hitting the roads today to enforce another blitz targeting drivers who block lanes of traffic during rush hour.
Police say the heightened rush-hour route enforcement campaign will focus on morning, mid-day and afternoon rush-hour routes in the downtown core.
Riding along with CP24 as the blitz came into effect Monday morning, Mayor John Tory said Toronto residents have told him that they don’t want to see busy streets blocked by stopped cars during the city’s busiest traffic periods.
“People have told me loud and clear they don’t want that,” Tory said.
Vehicles blocking rush hour routes will be ticketed and towed, police say.
That means that leaving the car blocking a lane while popping in to drop dry-cleaning or to grab a coffee could net a driver a fine of $150 and/ or major hassle in the form of a towed vehicle.
A new’ zero-tolerance’ policy came into effect back in January for vehicles blocking lanes of traffic during rush hour. Since then police say they have issued 61,830 tickets and towed 12,354 vehicles.
However old habits tend to creep back after a while, Tory said.
“We just have to remind people that this is behavior that is clearly spelled out on signs – don’t do it,” he said.
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