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Driver receives heavy fine for failing to obey new highway traffic law

BY KEITH LACEY [email protected] Drivers approaching an area where an emergency vehicle is flashing its red lights have to slow down. Or else.
BY KEITH LACEY

Drivers approaching an area where an emergency vehicle is flashing its red lights have to slow down.
Or else.

One Sudbury driver found out the hard way the consequences of failing to slow down when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle Wednesday. He was hit with a $500 fine and loss of six demerit points on his driver?s
licence.

This was the first conviction in Greater Sudbury since the implementation of the Approaching Stopped Emergency Vehicle subsection under the Highway Traffic Act?s Rules of the Road provisions implemented by the province in early 2003.

?What we really want to do is alert the public that this law is now in place and drivers should be aware of it,? said Frank Perron, municipal prosecutor for Greater Sudbury.

?This is a relatively new section under the Highway Traffic Act (HTA) and not enough people know about it, and that?s why we?re trying to alert the public.?

The new section of the HTA was designed specifically to protect police, ambulance and firefighting personnel when they rush to scenes adjacent to highways and roadways, said Perron.

He knows of four Sudbury and area police officers who were hit by vehicles and injured while working at emergency scenes, said Perron.

?When police officers are attending a scene or an ambulance driver is trying to tend to someone on the side of the road, often the last thing they worry about is oncoming traffic,? he said. ?The new law is designed to ensure all oncoming traffic automatically slows down and proceeds with caution whenever an emergency vehicle is flashing its red lights.?

The specific provision of the HTA states ?upon approaching an emergency vehicle with its lamp producing intermittent flashes of red light that is stopped on a highway, the driver of a vehicle travelling on the same side of the highway, shall slow down and proceed with caution, having due regard for traffic and the conditions of the highway and the weather, to ensure the driver does not collide with the emergency vehicle or endanger any person outside the emergency vehicle.?

The HTA also states drivers shall move into another lane if the movement can be made safely.

Every person found guilty under the subsection must, for a first offence, pay a fine of not less than $400 and not more than $2,000 and for each subsequent offence, the minimum fine rises to $1,000 and not more than $4,000.

A maximum jail sentence of not more than six months and/or fine can be implemented by the courts following a second convicition.

The courts can also suspend the accused?s licence for up to two years after a conviction is registered.

?The fines and loss of six points is similar to what the courts regularly impose for careless driving or passing a school bus with its lights flashing,? said Perron. ?This is now considered a very serious infraction with serious penalties imposed...I know for a fact some insurance companies won?t reinsure drivers convicted of careless driving and I?m guessing some drivers convicted of this infraction are looking at similar problems.?

The incident in question took place last July at a Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) spotcheck location in Valley East.

Greater Sudbury Police had set up a spotcheck looking for impaired drivers at the bottom a large hill on Highway 69 N. in Val Caron and numerous vehicles had their emergency lights activated, said Perron.

The driver didn?t slow down and slammed on his brakes only 40 metres or so from the spotcheck. He was pulled over by police and charged under the new subsection of the HTA applying to emergency vehicles.

The driver had not had anything to drink and argued he thought he had slowed down sufficiently.

It is hoped this conviction will alert members of the public about the new law and its ramifications, said Perron.