Toronto police issue more than 2,300 traffic tickets in March Break road safety blitz

Toronto police issued more than 2,300 provincial highway traffic ticketsagainst drivers last week during a road safety blitz.

From March 11-17, officers in all police divisions kept an eye out for drivers who were speeding, driving while distracted, driving while impaired and driving aggressively. Police call these behaviours "the big 4" that lead to crashes causing injuries and deaths.

Sgt. Brett Moore, spokesperson for Toronto police's traffic services, said on Tuesday that officers talked to driversabout being mindful of vulnerable road users, whichinclude pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

"We educated people through the enforcement of the Highway Traffic Act," he said. "I think we engaged with a lot of people as well."

Police mainly handed out tickets under the Highway Traffic Act, but they alsoarrested 14 drivers suspected ofimpaired driving, an offence under the Criminal Code, he said.

The campaign involved the use of TV, radio, print and social mediato get people talking about road safety.

Moore said traffic services made much more use of Instagramfor this campaign than it has for past road safety campaigns.

So far this year, nine pedestrians have been killed on Toronto roads. Last year, 41 pedestrianswere killed.More than half of those who died in 2017 were 55 or older.