Ontario hopes to keep street racers and impaired drivers off the roadways with stiff fines and new police powers included in legislation to be introduced Thursday afternoon.

If passed, the bill would allow police to automatically suspend the driver's licences of impaired drivers and street racers. Cars owned by the street racers could also be seized for up to a week.

The bill would also increase fines for street racers by up to $10,000, making it the highest penalty for street racing in Canada, Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield said at a news conference in Stouffville Thursday morning.

York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge, who was also on hand, called the dangerous driving of both street racers and impaired drivers "senseless, selfish and completely preventable criminal acts."

He says Ontario has some of the strictest penalties for street racers and this proposed legislation sends the message: "Don't try to turn our streets into your own personal raceways."