Community Column by Don Butt (April 2013)

(Town of Mono, ON) We held our Community safety meeting recently and we felt it was quite successful with a total of about 35 attending. We had hoped for more but a snowy afternoon could have affected the crowd. An appeal from Steve Fisher (Webmaster for “ Friends of Purple Hill “ website) to get more residents involved with the new Neighbourhood Watch will be dealt with at our next meeting.

As I attend the police services board meetings, I am receiving copies of all the Police info that comes out from various sources. This particular one really shocked me as one of my jobs is to work on road safety. The release states that 1/3 of all Provincial Offenses Act fines are not paid. One third of these are under the Highway Traffic Act and one third under the Compulsory Insurance Act. The amount of money is over a billion dollars. The Minister of Transportation has introduced Act no.34, which will make it easier for the courts to collect these fines. It allows for plate denial for anyone with unpaid fines. This is important because we already have uninsured and unlicensed drivers on the road. How must our hard working police officers feel if 2/3 of their work in trying to keep us safe, is simply ignored. How safe do you feel if many of the drivers you see on the road pay no attention to the law and refuse to pay their tickets? I hope this new act goes through!

Well, it’s almost spring again so drivers check your vehicles or have your mechanic check for unsafe problems. Our Canadian winters are hard on vehicles and now is the time to make sure yours is ok. That cut in a tire or a loose piece of molding may not have been visible when everything was covered with snow. Safe driving everyone !

Safety Tip
Always maintain a safe following distance of 3 seconds .Increase space according to road and weather conditions.(this tip comes to you courtesy of Doug Annette and the Skid Control School at Oakville Ont. www.skidcontrolschool.com).

Road Watch
For those who do not have access to a computer, our forms are still available at Mono Plaza and OPP at Primrose. Otherwise use our web site on the Internet.

Don Butt is currently the Public Relations and Media Contact for the Mono Community Policing Committee. If you would like more information on anything covered in Don’s Column or would like to see a topic of public interest or safety covered; post a comment below.