(AURORA) – The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) will be using all available resources for traffic patrol province-wide over the Thanksgiving Weekend, Commissioner Julian Fantino said.

Traffic unit cruisers, motorcycles, boats, unmarked cars and two aircraft will all be patrolling the roads and waterways of the province, beginning this morning and running right through Monday night. The OPP will be using a rented aircraft in Western Region this weekend to identify aggressive drivers and those speeding. The OPP’s Cessna aircraft will be on patrol in Eastern Ontario all weekend.

The OPP will also be conducting Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) checks all day, every day, throughout the province in an effort to identify impaired drivers and take them off the roads.

“There have been a number of serious crashes involving impaired drivers recently,” Fantino said, “including three incidents where a motorist was driving the wrong way on a major highway, resulting in at least three fatalities. No one should get behind the wheel if they have been drinking.”

This weekend traditionally is one of the busiest on Ontario highways, lakes and trails as people head to cottage country for the final long weekend of what is commonly referred to as the summer driving season.

In addition, the OPP annually participates in Operation Impact, a Canada-wide campaign aimed at making the nation’s highways the safest in the world. It begins this morning and runs to Monday at midnight.

As of October 5, 240 people had been killed on roads the OPP patrols, compared to 362 last year, a 33.7 per cent decrease. Of that total, excessive speed was involved in 81 of the deaths, down from 134 last year, a 43.5 per cent decrease. Non-use of seatbelts resulted in 60 deaths, down 40 per cent from the 100 deaths in 2007. Alcohol played a part in 40 deaths, a 40.3 per cent decrease over 2007 when 67 people had died in alcohol-related crashes.

“The tragedy of losing a loved one in a traffic collision has touched many of us.  The involvement, not only of the police but also the driving public is essential to in making our roads the safest they can be,” Fantino said. “To date in 2008 we have together saved the equivalent of 122 lives!”

“Operation Impact is a Canada-wide initiative designed to remind people that the key part of traffic enforcement is to save lives and reduce serious injuries on our roadways, trails and waterways,” Chief Superintendent Bill Grodzinski, Commander of the OPP Highway Safety Division said.

“Educating the public in safe driving practices is an OPP priority. We will be targetting behaviour that puts drivers, passengers and other motorists at risk. The province-wide annual fall seatbelt campaign also runs through Thanksgiving Weekend so officers will be paying special attention to non-use of seatbelts and proper installation and use of child restraints.”

Operation Impact is supported by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Transport Canada and is part of Road Safety Vision 2010, which has a goal of making Canada’s roads the safest in the world by 2010. It is also part of the OPP’s Provincial Traffic Safety Program.

www.opp.ca