Street race fatality causes MP to push speed limit bill

An early morning street race on Oct. 10 resulted in the death of a 25-year-old man, police say. He was racing another car when he lost control of his Honda Accord and crashed into a fire hydrant and a pole at Kennedy Rd. and Finch Ave. East, splitting the car in two.

According to the police, the Honda’s passenger fled the scene, but contacted them later in the afternoon.

Police are still looking for the second car, a two-door black Infiniti G35.

Agincourt MP Jim Karygiannis cited the accident as yet another reason to pass a speed-limiting bill. The legislation would require cars to stop or slow down if they’re going 30 kilometres per hour over the speed limit.

He first introduced the private member’s bill in 2006, and plans to reintroduce it in the House of Commons.

“Driving is a privilege, not a right,” Karygiannis said. “The amount of money that we spend on people hurt in accidents, it’s in the billions of dollars.”

He added that getting GPS device manufacturers on board would be a good idea, as they could wire the GPS to inform cars of the speed limit in the area. If the car were speeding, the limiter would kick in.

“There’s no way you can hit the maximum,” he said. “At 180, it cuts me off. If I do over 150, I lose my car anyways. What do I need that speed for?”

His plan has received tremendous support from his community.

“The other thing I’ve learned is that the young man that got killed is a constituent of mine,” he explained. “I don’t know his name, but he had a speeding record from before.”

The bill has its opponents, mostly from among racing enthusiasts. But that hasn’t stopped Karygiannis. He intends on seeing it get passed so that traffic accidents can decrease and the load on the health-care system can ease up.

“He took out a fire hydrant,” he said. “That fire hydrant went off like a missile and it went 150 yards. If that fire hydrant went into a house, it could’ve hurt someone sleeping at five in the morning.”

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By: Maryam Shah
Posted: Oct 16 2011 9:20 pm
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1 Comment on "Street race fatality causes MP to push speed limit bill"

  1. Too bad about that fire hydrant, Mr. Karygiannis.
    Nice to see our local politicians feel such strong feelings of sorrow for the loss of a 25 year old man who had his entire life ahead of him.

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