

Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





A dozen drivers from around the GTA are now facing criminal charges of dangerous driving in connection with an incident in April that prompted numerous 911 tips from the public about luxury vehicles speeding and driving erratically en route to Barrie.

Ontario Provincial Police say they received multiple 911 calls on April 2 about luxury vehicles racing and driving aggressively on Highway 407 and Highway 400.

OPP caught up with the vehicles near the Barrie ONroute service centre and charged 12 drivers with stunt driving. The drivers also had their licenses suspended.

All 12 drivers have now been charged with dangerous driving as well, based on witness accounts and video footage, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said Thursday.

Schmidt said the charges come as police seek to combat increasing road fatalities arising from aggressive driving.

“As of today and this week, we’ve seen an 80 per cent increase in road deaths that are connected to aggressive driving and speeding,” Schmidt said in a social media post. “We’ve had 27 people lose their lives already this year compared to 15 by the same time last year.

“This is completely unacceptable. The kind of driving behaviours that we saw back on April 2 is exactly what is defined as aggressive speeding and high-risk driving behavior. There is no tolerance for that kind of behavior on provincial highways.”

The drivers who were charged are all from municipalities around the GTA and are members of an extreme car enthusiast club called “North Face Rally.”

In a Facebook post on April 3, the group distanced itself from those who were charged and said the group recognizes “the absolute need to adhere to all rules and regulations that govern the use of public roadways.”

The group said the drivers’ actions “are their own” and apologized to other motorists who felt intimidated or harassed.

At the time, a lawyer representing the drivers said that he believed they were “at the wrong place at the wrong time” and that the drivers were targeted because the sports cars created a bias against them.

Lawyer Amedeo DiCarlo also said he believed police were treating the drivers aggressively.

All 12 are set to make a court appearance in Barrie on July 10.