Speeders beware: new legislation cracking down on stunt driving takes effect July 1

OPP radar displays a reading of 159 km/hr. (FILE IMAGE/Courtesy OPP)

Windsor, Ont. -

The Ontario government is implementing stricter penalties for stunt driving and protecting road users against unsafe and aggressive driving with new laws that take effect this week.

The Moving Ontarians More Safely Act, also known as the MOMS Act, rolls out in stages, starting on July 1.

Some rules of the new legislation for street racing/stunt driving:

• Increase the roadside driver’s licence suspension and vehicle impoundment periods for drivers caught street racing/stunt driving from seven days each to a 30-day driver’s licence suspension and a 14-day vehicle impoundment.
• Introduce escalating post-conviction driver’s licence suspensions for drivers convicted of street racing/stunt driving:
• For a first offence, a minimum of one to three years
• For a second offence, a minimum of three to 10 years
• For a third offence, a lifetime suspension that may be reduced at a later date to be established by regulation, and
• For fourth and subsequent offences, a lifetime driver’s licence suspension.
• Create a lower speed threshold for stunt driving charges of driving 40 kilometres per hour (km/h) or more above the speed limit on roads where the speed limit is less than 80 km/h.
• Introduce a default speed limit of 80 km/h on a highway not within a local municipality or a built-up area.

The provincial government introduced the MOMS Act in the legislature on April 26.

“By increasing driver’s licence suspensions and vehicle impoundment periods, the MOMS Act sends a clear message to drivers – driving is a privilege and those who threaten the safety of others have no place on our roads,” said Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney.

Provincial officials say the number of driver’s licence suspensions issued at roadside for street racing/stunt driving increased 130 per cent between 2013 and 2019.

Roadside driver’s licence suspensions for street racing/stunt driving increased an additional 52 per cent between March and August 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

The province says the MOMS Act also introduces measures to protect vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and highway workers, improve truck safety and strengthen the province’s oversight of the towing sector by creating the Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act, 2021.

The act requires tow operators, tow truck drivers and vehicle storage operators to be certified, and set new standards for customer protection and roadside behaviours, including penalties for non-compliance.