Ontario Provincial Police will be out in full force this weekend conducting a highway blitz with a personal connection.
Police will zero in on one specific law this weekend that requires drivers to move over for emergency vehicles stopped on the side of the road to allow them to work safely. Breaking this law can cost drivers between $400 and $2,000.
“It’s not only the demerit points and the fines, but it’s also the consequences: you know it could be injuries to the driver or pedestrians or people on the side of the road,” said Cst. John Armit with the Ontario Provincial Police.
For members of the OPP, this “Move Over” law has a very personal meaning. In 2000, two OPP officers were injured and Sergeant Margaret Eve was killed when a tractor trailer plowed into all three officers and their cruisers pulled over on the side of the highway.
Today the officer’s family spoke for the first time since the incident in June 2000.
“Her accident was so preventable this is the hardest part for my family to accept,” said Colleen Eve, Sgt. Eve’s daughter.
“I had to tell a three-year-old girl and a six-year-old young man that mommy would not be coming home anymore,” said Sgt. Eve’s husband, John Eve.
Since the late 1980s, five OPP officers have been killed on the roadside.
Officers on the highway this weekend will also be on the lookout for aggressive drivers, impaired drivers and seatbelt offences.
