With the unofficial first long weekend of the summer off to a deadly start, Ontario Provincial Police are urging drivers and boaters to be careful.
“It is going to be a gorgeous weekend and there will be lots of people on our roads and waterways,” Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said Friday. “People will be going to events around the GTA or heading out of town to cottage country.
“So don’t take chances and watch out for vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists and cyclists,” he added.
Sadly, the holiday weekend began with two motorcycle-related deaths in the GTA on Friday.
In the first incident a motorcyclist was travelling south on The Canadian Rd. approaching Royal Windsor Dr., in Oakville, when he lost control on a curve and left the roadway just before 4:30 a.m.
Halton Regional Police Sgt. Barry Malciw said a 28-year-old Milton man was killed.
Shortly before noon another motorcyclist heading south on Airport Rd. approaching King St., in Caledon, struck a pedestrian crossing the street, the OPP said.
The pedestrian, believed to be an elderly woman, died in hospital.
There was also a bizarre incident in Toronto over the noon-hour where a man was run over by his own vehicle after falling out on Victoria Park Ave. near Hwy. 401.
He suffered leg injuries but is expected to be OK, Toronto Police Const. Craig Brister said.
A few hours later, another man was hit by a car on Eglinton Ave. W. near Bathurst St. and suffered severe leg injuries.
Schmidt said OPP officers will be out in force on highways across the province until Monday when Canada Road Safety Week wraps up.
“We’ll be looking for high-risk driving behaviour, people who are distracted or impaired,” he said, adding officers will also be on the lookout for people not wearing seat-belts among other infractions.
Last year over the Victoria Day weekend, Schmidt said two people were killed on roads, three died driving ATVs and one died on the water.
The OPP has already investigated eight boating deaths this year, triple the number killed at this point in 2015.
The eight victims were killed in six boating accidents, all but one of which involved alcohol, the OPP says. None of the victims wore a life-jacket.
“If you’re out on the water, make sure you are wearing a life-jacket,” Schmidt said. “Don’t be sitting on it using it as a seat cushion.”
