Dramatic increase in stunt driving tickets issued in Windsor

CTV Windsor: Stunt driving Windsor police cracking down on excessive speeding and proof is in numbers. Rich Garton explains.

The number of people ticketed for stunt driving in Windsor has more tripled in the first half of 2019 compared to last year.

Windsor police report 83 motorists have been charged with speeding more than 50 kilometres an hour over the posted speed limit from January to June of 2019.

That compares to 24 stunt driving charges over the same six month period in 2018.

"People aren't realizing the seriousness of it and there's no doubt about it, speed kills," says Sergeant Steve Betteridge.

Last Friday, Windsor police handed out 119 tickets during a traffic blitz on EC Row. Most of the tickets were for speeding, and three motorists were handed stunt driving charges.

Anyone charged faces an immediate seven-day licence suspension and their vehicle is impounded for seven days.

If convicted, the driver faces a licence suspension of up to two years for a first offence, a six month jail term and a fine of $2,000 to $10,000.

Wally Chafchak of All Line Insurance Brokers tells CTV News it will also cost you more money, if you can find a company to insure you as a driver.

"Paying a fine to the government is a one-time basically burden, but the insurance is an ongoing process, right?" says Chachak. "The rates are probably triple or quadruple."

Chafchack adds when people face steep insurance rates, the likely outcome is they will continue to drive without insurance. If you get caught doing that, fines range from $5,000 to $25,000 for a first offence.

Betteridge tells CTV News when they hear about a problem in the community, they will target it.

"We're going to allocate our resources and do everything we can through education and enforcement to curb that and get those offences to stop," adds Betteridge.