Here the photographer stays stationary as the traffic flows through the frame leaving only trails of light on the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
A 37-year-old Toronto motorist charged with stunt driving has had his car seized and his licence suspended after he was clocked early Monday travelling at almost twice the speed limit – one of three high-speed drivers nabbed by police in less than 24 hours.
The man's 2003 Audi A4 was westbound on the Gardiner Expressway shortly after 2 a.m. and was moving at 188 km/h in the 100 kmh zone, police said.
He was pulled over after police pursued him.
Under provincial legislation enacted in 2007, so-called stunt driving – driving at more than 50 kmh above the posted speed limit – brings an automatic seven-day licence suspension, and the car is also impounded for a week.
Those penalties are in addition to whatever punishment is meted out in court, and last year Toronto police enacted more than 380 such vehicle seizures and roadside suspensions.
A conviction in court carries a maximum fine of $10,000, up to six months in jail and a licence suspension for up to two years.
In the second incident, a 22-year-old Pickering resident was caught speeding on the Don Valley Parkway around 4:30 a.m. on Sunday. Clocked at travelling at 144 km/h, he too was charged with stunt driving because the speed limit on the DVP is 90 kmh.
He is also accused of driving while under suspension and of refusing to provide a breath sample, which normally brings a penalty at least equivalent to that imposed for impaired driving.
In the third stunt-driving incident, also shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday, the motorist was travelling slightly more slowly, at 113 kmh.
But he too was out of luck, because his 2008 Volkswagen Jetta was on Lakeshore Boulevard West, where the speed limit is 60 kmh.
The 25-year-old Toronto man was also charged with impaired driving.
Of the 38 stunt-driving charges laid in Toronto so far this year, alcohol was a factor in five instances, police say.