Giant jump in speeding charges laid in first two months of 2021

Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) is urging drivers to slow down after reporting a massive increase in the number of speeding charges compared to last year.

From Jan. 2020 to Feb. 2020, police in the region issued 771 speeding charges. Over the same period in 2021, that number was 2,967 — an increase of 285 per cent.

Acting staff sergeant Mark Hammer says the police did not detect any geographic variations in speeding.

"It's straight across the board," he said.

Hammer said that there are a number of explanations for the sudden increase. The WRPS has stepped up speeding enforcement in rural areas, he said, and is also starting to use more effective equipment to detect speeding.

WRPS also now has a system of two officers per police cruiser, Hammer said.

"When we were able to implement that system we were able to double our officers out there on the road, so that's part of it," he said.

Hammer added that he's concerned drivers are not taking speed limits seriously.

"There's a myriad of excuses we hear when we pull over a driver with regards to speeding," he said.

"Each one of our speed signs has that word maximum on there, but I would probably suggest that most drivers treat that as a minimum speed that they should be applying to that road," he continued.

Hammer recommends that drivers slow down, and plan their drive in advance — including by taking into account possibilities like inclement weather. 

"If you look at the increase in speed versus the time saved, it doesn't really add up to a whole lot," he said.

"We need to do something to reverse this trend."