No sign of slowing down: Ont. man, 85, sets street-racing record
Last Updated: Thursday, January 3, 2008 | 2:16 PM ET
CBC News
An 85-year-old man has sped into the record books as the oldest person charged under Ontario's street-racing legislation.
An officer on patrol north of Toronto spotted an Oldsmobile Intrigue zipping through the eastbound lanes of Highway 407 on Wednesday morning, Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Cam Woolley told CBCNews.ca on Thursday.
She tried to catch up to the vehicle in her fully marked cruiser and "make herself obvious" by signalling to the driver, Woolley said.
But the driver didn't seem to notice her, and picked up speed as he cut across lanes. By the time the car reached Keele Street, it was clocked at 161 kilometres an hour, Woolley said.
He said wet, icy roads made the roads even more dangerous.
The officer got caught behind traffic, but eventually pulled the 85-year-old Thornhill man over.
Under tough street-racing legislation passed last spring, anyone who exceeds posted speed limits by 50 km/h can be charged.
Police can also impound a vehicle for seven days and suspend their driver's licence for as long. Any driver found guilty in court faces a minimum $2,000 fine.
"At first he was quite annoyed about losing his vehicle," Woolley said about the 85-year-old.
The man told the officer he was on his way to his bank and then planned to go shopping. In the end, the officer drove him to the bank, where he took out some money and got a taxi home.
But Woolley said the 85-year-old is not the only senior citizen charged under the new law.
Twenty people 65 and older, including two 75-year-olds, have also been charged.
"Sadly somebody's grandfather can get in just as bad a collision as anyone else," Woolley said.
Across the province, more than 2,200 people — most of them young men —have been charged since the law went into effect, said Woolley. The youngest charged is a 16-year-old girl.
