Montreal Rider Slapped With Four Tickets Totalling Over 3000 Dollars and a Seven Day Licence Suspension
A 36 year old motorcyclist in Montreal was stopped by police after being clocked at 160 km/h in a posted 50 km/h zone. The incident happened on Autoroute 40 near Autoroute 13 in the early hours of Saturday morning. The rider received four traffic tickets totalling 3268 dollars. He also lost his licence on the spot for seven days.
What Happened
Patrol officers from the Sûreté du Québec were monitoring traffic on the eastbound lanes of Autoroute 40 when they spotted a motorcycle travelling at what appeared to be an unsafe speed. The stop happened at around 1 in the morning.
When officers moved in to intercept the rider the motorcyclist accelerated and kept going. He then took the exit for boulevard Côte Vertu. He was finally pulled over on the service road. It was on that stretch that the official speed reading of 160 km/h was recorded. The posted limit on that section is 50 km/h.
This means the rider was clocked at more than three times the legal limit for that stretch of road.
The Charges
The motorcyclist did not walk away with a simple speeding ticket. Police issued four separate citations covering different offences.
The first ticket was for excessive speeding. The second was for driving between midnight and 5 in the morning while holding only an apprentice permit. The third was for zigzag passing. The fourth was for obstructing the enforcement of the Highway Safety Code by failing to stop when police signalled him to pull over.
The total value of the four fines came to 3268 dollars.
Demerit Points and Licence Suspension
In addition to the financial penalties the rider was hit with 32 demerit points on his driving record. His licence was also suspended immediately for seven days at the roadside.
In Quebec the demerit point system is used to track repeat offenders. Drivers who accumulate too many points can face longer suspensions or even the cancellation of their licence. A penalty of 32 points in a single stop is far above the usual threshold for action under the system.
Why It Matters
Police forces across Canada have warned for years about the rising number of extreme speeding cases on urban motorways. Riders going at highway speeds on roads with 50 km/h limits put themselves and other road users at very high risk.
Studies have repeatedly shown that the chance of a fatal motorcycle crash rises sharply once speeds climb above 50 km/h on roads shared with other vehicles. The World Health Organisation has previously noted that the risk of a deadly crash rises by roughly 4 to 5 per cent for every 1 km/h increase in average speed. At 160 km/h the stopping distance for a motorcycle is many times longer than at the posted limit. A small surprise on the road can become unrecoverable.
The Sûreté du Québec used the incident to remind riders that speeds of this kind are not just illegal but extremely dangerous. The consequences can be a ticket. They can also be a tragedy.
The Bigger Picture
The Montreal case is not isolated. In recent months police forces around the world have reported similar incidents. A motorcyclist in Thessaloniki Greece was caught doing 150 km/h in a 50 km/h zone in April. He was fined 7000 euros and lost his licence. In the United States a rider in Kansas was clocked at 164 mph on the Kansas Turnpike in August last year. He was hit with a 1188 dollar ticket.
The pattern is the same in every country. Powerful motorcycles. Empty roads at night. A few seconds of misjudged throttle. And a heavy bill from the courts the next morning.
For the Montreal rider one single stop turned into a set of penalties that went well beyond a normal speeding ticket. The licence is gone for now. The points are on the record. And the 3268 dollar bill is just the start.
Source. Sûreté du Québec via El Balad.