Just 16 days into 2018 and provincial police are already saying that too many people have died in road collisions.
Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says 26 people have died this year on OPP-patrolled roads. Last year at this time there were only seven deaths.
Schmidt calculates that to be an increase of 271 per cent.
"Very tragic collisions that are happening and when we look at them, for the most part, they are 100 per cent preventable," he says. "Poor weather and poor road conditions do not cause crashes, poor driving does."
If this pace continues, Schmidt says 600 people will die on roads by the end of the year.
Locally, four people have died in crashes in central Ontario.
Johannes Rybroek, 79, of Barrie died over the weekend in a crash on Highway 89.
Young hockey star Avery Andrew was killed in a two-vehicle crash on County Road 15 on Jan. 1. Three days later, two people died after a head-on collision along a stretch of Highway 10 in the Mono area.
"There's a limit to what a vehicle can do to stop when it's on a slippery surface and if you're driving too fast and something comes up in front of you. There may be nothing more you can do except hold on for the ride and wait for it to be over," Schmidt says.
The OPP wants people to pay attention, put down their phones and avoid distractions.
