Toronto driver caught speeding in Burlington, Ont., had licence suspended since 1985, police say

It’s been 40 years since Careless Whisper by Wham topped Billboard magazine’s Year-End Hot 100 singles list and Amadeus won best picture at the Academy Awards.

It’s also been 40 years since an Ontario driver — stopped this week for speeding in Burlington, Ont., — had his licence suspended.

“Unbelievable,” is how Sgt. Kerry Schmidt with the Ontario Provincial Police Highway Safety Division described the turn of events. “For some reason he continues to drive.”

Police say they stopped the driver — a 60-year-old man from Toronto — for driving 144 kilometres per hour on Highway 407 Wednesday afternoon. Schmidt said the man “admitted to being suspended” and had previous driving convictions.

“There’s no place for that,” Schmidt told CBC Hamilton Friday. “Driving is a privilege.”

The man was also wanted by Halton Regional Police Service, so the OPP turned him over to that force, Schmidt said.

A Halton police spokesperson told CBC Hamilton the force took the man into custody for charges from 2019 of driving under suspension and using an authorized plate.

Schmidt added, officers will be out for the long weekend to prevent dangerous driving, which includes speeding.

“Speeding, right now, is the number one killer,” he said, adding that of the 269 deaths the OPP have investigated on roadways this year, 59 were due to speed and aggressive driving.

“That is 269 people that will not be joining their family and friends this Thanksgiving,” Schmidt said in a video posted to X Thursday. “Those fatalities are very preventable.”