Police in the Kingston region have noticed a marked increase in the number of highway fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic and some of the crashes can be linked to speeding, according to the OPP.

A video posted to Instagram recently shows a vehicle driving over 200 km/h on Perth Road, north of Kingston, in a posted 80 km/h zone.

The OPP are aware of the video and say it is a clear example of extreme recklessness.

“That vehicle is travelling at an extraordinary rate,” says Const. Curtis Dick with the OPP Frontenac Detachment.

Since late April, the OPP in the Kingston area have stopped and charged eight drivers for stunt driving — speeding well in excess of the posted speed limits.

“The high speed of 189 km/h, in a 100 km/h on Hwy. 401,” says Dick. “And also up to 120 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

“So, it’s a variety of areas, with a variety of speeds, but the speeds are excessive. “So we are looking to change those behaviours.”

Since the beginning of this year, across Ontario, there have been 63 fatalities involving vehicles, up 10.5 per cent from 2019, according to the OPP.

Seventeen of those were caused by speed, 13.3 per cent higher.

In the Kingston region, there have been four fatalities so far this year caused by speed — up a third over the same period in 2019 (or 33.3 per cent).

On the OPP East Twitter account, one driver was pulled over for driving 154 km/h on the 401, and when asked why, the OPP say his response was: “There’s nobody out here, so what does it matter?”

Another driver was stopped in early May. The OPP say they initially observed the vehicle doing 197 km/h on the 401 near Mallorytown.

The driver was clocked and stopped, speeding at 178 km/h.

His licence suspended for seven days, he was given a court date and his car was impounded.

“We can certainly talk to behaviours and decisions,” says Dick. “The drivers are responsible for what they do when travelling on the roadways.

“And what we are trying as an organization, with national policing partners … is to curb those decisions and behaviours.”

The behaviours are being addressed in a national campaign called Canada Road Safety Week, which runs from May 12-18.

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