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Ottawa police say they’re well aware street racing is risking the safety and interrupting the sleep of residents across the city.
Sgt. Troy Froats said the number of people travelling at speeds well above posted limits increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has stayed consistently high ever since.
“It seems to be continuing and holding that pattern,” he said.
Before the pandemic, police commonly laid no more than 200 charges for stunt driving on an annual basis. Now, the total number of charges laid each year has roughly doubled.
Multiple vehicles competing in street races as well as individuals travelling at higher-than-allowed speeds is a city-wide issue, although police have identified a few hotspots.
Beyond the inherent danger, the activity also creates loud noises that annoy many residents.
Barrhaven, Kanata, Orléans and Maryville have all been identified as areas where street racing is occurring, causing frustrations over noise and safety.
“I would say most communities across the city, any community with roads that are wide enough, have had this problem,” said Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo.
Traffic enforcement is the responsibility of all uniformed members of the Ottawa police, but a specific group is mandated to monitor it for the city.
“There’s just not one location that we can dedicate our time to, so we have to split up that time and those resources across the city,” Froats said.
Councillor to ask city to research issue
Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill has heard directly from residents about the loud noise caused by the cars. He lives near a road popular with street racers.
“They do it somewhat with impunity because they feel emboldened,” he said. “It’s fairly rare that anything really happens to them.”
Hill said he wants to work with police and city staff to establish more community safety zones, which would allow more speed cameras to be installed.
“That’s not the only solution to this problem. I genuinely think that deterrence through modernizing our Highway Traffic Act is something that we need to look at,” he said.
He added he will be asking the city to research whether the province can make legislative changes to better police the issue.
Even though he recognized it may be a frustrating process, he said residents can jot down the time and place they see or hear illegal driving and report it to police.
“That data does get used in subsequent operations by the police to try and then come and combat this driving,” he said.
Froats said police seek intelligence to try and find where street racing might be happening.
“If we know what’s happening on street A, then we can plan a project for street A,” he said. “If we don’t know what’s happening there, then chances are we might not be able to have an opportunity to get there.”
Despite noise being a major irritant, police say they are more concerned about ensuring the roads are safe to be on.
“We need to get to people that are actually causing the problems, that are causing the deaths and injuries on our roadways,” Froats said.
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