Hundreds of stunt driving and illegal racing charges were laid across the Greater Toronto Area within a two-month period earlier this year.
According to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), of the 420 charges laid between May and June of this year, 35 were criminal charges related to impaired driving and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
There were also 105 charges for speeding, 20 charges for stunt driving and 261 charges for other offences related to the Highway Traffic Act, Provincial Offences Act, Cannabis Act and Liquor License Act.
It is not yet clear how many people have been charged throughout the course of the investigation.
“Today’s street races are extraordinarily brazen and elaborately orchestrated events,” OPP Deputy Commissioner Rose DiMarco told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.
“They result in dangerous behaviours that threaten the safety of all participants, and by extension to their audiences live and on social media.”
The number of racing incidents on Ontario roads continues to climb, DiMarco said. In 2021, provincial police laid 5,298 racing and stunt driving charges against drivers.
The commissioner said these drivers have “zero regard for other people’s lives, or in fact their own lives.” She cited one example from April 2022, when an incident of illegal racing on Highway 427 in Toronto resulted in a death.
“Two vehicles began racing each other, darting in and out of traffic and passing other vehicles at high rates of speed. Tragically, the driver of one vehicle made a quick maneuver, an intent to pass on the shoulder. The driver lost control and crashed, was ejected and pronounced deceased at the hospital,” DiMarco said.
“Now an entire family, friends and colleagues mourn this loss in their lives and all the life events that might have been if it were not for illegal racing.”
Officials also released video on Wednesday showing various incidents of street racing. In one, two cars are seeing starting their engines and speeding down what appears to be a residential street while another shows multiple vehicles swerving around cars on a highway.
The charges laid between May and June are part of Project Buccaneer, a joint venture with police forces in York Region, Peel Region and Toronto. It follows a similar probe last year in which York Regional Police charged 70 people and impounded 60 vehicles in a crackdown on stunt driving in the GTA.
Between January 2021 and April 2022, officials say there were 2,852 calls that referenced excessive speeding, 4,106 calls referencing street racing and 72 calls for collisions related to racing.
Police say the investigation is ongoing.
