A third of Toronto force's 1,600 vehicles were in an accident in 2006 – it was a good year
Francine Kopun
Feature Writer

Maybe you've thought it, well now you know: The police officer writing you that ticket for speeding or failing to yield is subject to the same human driving frailties as you.

A review of more than 100 motor vehicle accident reports involving Toronto Police Service vehicles between July 2005 and July 2006, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, shows officers were responsible for about half of all run-ins with the public.

Officers make the same mistakes we do – they reverse into parked cars (sometimes into each other); they drive too fast for the weather; they tailgate. One police driver opened his door into traffic and walloped a cyclist. Another claims to have caught his clothing on the gearshift of his squad car, (located behind the steering wheel), which put it into drive, causing it to roll across two lanes of traffic before hitting a streetcar.

Last June, an officer drove out of a parking lot and hit and injured a pedestrian on the sidewalk. He drove away, unaware that anyone had been struck.

But the police officer who crashed into a light pole when his attention was "diverted by sniper activity," should perhaps be forgiven. And in many cases where officers are judged at fault, they are often not to blame – intentional contact is sometimes used to end a pursuit or protect the public.

On Dec. 13, 2005, an officer did just that. A suspect in a car being followed by a police cruiser on Mornelle Court near the Scarborough Campus of the University of Toronto rammed a second cruiser that was attempting to block his way. The suspect jumped out of his car and fled, leaving his car rolling down a hill toward a group of children. The police officer who had been following the suspect drove his cruiser into the moving car to stop it from hitting the children.

About one in three Toronto Police Service vehicles was involved in a crash in 2006, a figure that has been dropping since 2004.

"When you consider the number of kilometres our officers drive every year, that's really not a lot of accidents, and most of those accidents are really very minor in nature," according to Toronto police Sgt. Joe Galati, co-ordinator of Police Vehicle Operations for Toronto police.

The Toronto Police Service operates about 1,600 motor vehicles, including parking enforcement vehicles, unmarked cars and cruisers, vans and motorcycles. Between 450 and 500 are marked patrol cars, and officers spend between seven and nine hours of every 10-hour shift behind the wheel, Galati estimates.

He credits improved training with the drop in accidents – officers receive refresher courses about once every four years, and the rules regarding pursuits have been drastically tightened. Officers are discouraged from chasing stolen vehicles, or even drivers who appear to be impaired, for fear of sparking a chase that ends in serious injury or death.

The accidents reviewed by the Star included only those with damages over $5,000 or involving personal injury to any of the parties. Toronto police withheld an unspecified number of reports, citing reasons of confidentiality, labour relations and legal concerns. This would have weeded out many of the more serious accidents.

Many of the accidents caused by police may have been due to inattention. How else to explain a police officer who backs his vehicle into another car in the parking lot of Bagel Plus; or the officer who backed his car into a parked police scout car at a police sally port; or the one who backed into a construction hole?

It turns out that one of the biggest hazards for police officers is other drivers. Suspects routinely ram police cars (sometimes repeatedly) in an effort to escape arrest. In two cases reviewed by the Star, cyclists drove into police cars. One of the cyclists had been drinking.

Most civilian drivers don't seem to know that they must attempt to pull over to the right – if it is safe to do so – when an emergency vehicle drives by, even if it's approaching from the opposite direction.

In fact, police lights and sirens often act as a beacon for other drivers, say experts. The accident reports are full of other drivers plowing into police vehicles responding to 911 calls.

"People see the lights, people will drive towards the lights. Everybody drives where they look," says Kenneth Lester, co-ordinator of police vehicle operations at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer.

"I think the most common misconception is that rookie police officers feel that a police car with its siren is going to be like parting the Red Sea, and it just doesn't happen."

People drive differently in the presence of police, says Lester.

"Panic is a good way to put it," says Lester.

"Why are they panicking? Maybe they don't have their belt on. Maybe they don't have their licence with them. Maybe they have a burned-out signal and they're afraid they're going to get stopped for it. Maybe they got a ticket last weekend, who knows? It makes them do things you can't predict."

Toronto police traffic Sgt. Brian Bowman remembers stopping a driver in an illegally modified Honda who got so nervous he left his car in neutral when he got out to get his licence out of the trunk. The Honda rolled down an incline into Bowman's patrol car.

"I think he put his car up for sale after that, he didn't want to play anymore," says Bowman.