York Regional Police invites media to attend a press conference showcasing three important initiatives targeting summer safety on York Region roads.

On Thursday, June 26, 2008, Chief Armand La Barge, Richmond Hill Mayor David Barrow and members of the York Regional Police Traffic Bureau will outline the campaigns taking place across the region this summer. Traffic Bureau equipment and vehicles, including motorcycles and cruisers, the R.I.D.E. truck and laser radar machines, will be on display. After the press conference media will be invited to join Traffic Bureau officers as they conduct speeding and seatbelt checks.

Information will also be provided on Bill C-2, federal legislation that will come into law on July 2, 2008, allowing police to charge drivers if they fail to provide a blood or urine sample when they are stopped and suspected of driving while impaired by drugs. York Regional Police is a Canadian leader in the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) Program with 24 officers trained in drug recognition and five trained as DRE instructors. In addition, a Traffic Bureau officer is currently seconded to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as the National Coordinator for the DRE Program.

York Regional Police has identified speed, misuse or lack of seatbelt use and impaired driving as the three main causes of injury or death in motor vehicle collisions and officers will target these concerns this summer with education and enforcement.

A new summer road safety awareness program, No Shortcut to Safety, will target speeding in residential areas and pedestrian awareness. School is finished this week and even more children will be on the roads riding their bicycles or walking in their neighbourhoods. Excessive speed has been the greatest consistent contributing factor in many fatal collisions that have occurred on York Region roads in the last five years.

Seatbelt misuse will be targeted by a program called Secure your Future - Wear your Seatbelt. Seatbelt use reduces the number of injuries and deaths each year on our roadways. Wearing a seatbelt properly is the single most effective thing anyone can do to protect themselves and others in a motor vehicle collision. This is also a year-round campaign that will target both drivers and their passengers.

York Regional Police is also celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Safe Roads…Your Call program instituted on June 28, 2007. The number of calls and the resulting arrests from this program over the year will be released at the press conference. This initiative encourages motorists to immediately call 9-1-1 if they see a suspected impaired driver. That call may save a life or prevent serious injury. Impaired driving is a crime in progress and as such, warrants a 9-1-1 call.

The press conference will begin at 11 a.m. at the Rouge Woods Community Centre, located at 110 Shirley Drive in the Town of Richmond Hill. Media is invited to attend.

For more information, please contact Sergeant Bradley Bulmer of the Traffic Bureau at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7706. Questions are always welcome at traffic@yrp.ca .