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 gear-shift 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

Driver training about taking the cowboy out of the cop

FRANCINE KOPUN It isn't easy. Not when the call These days drivers need more FEATURE WRITER is for a baby not breathing, or a training than ever, according to Forget the crazy chases, the dar- domestic in progress - some- Kenneth Lester, co-ordinator of ing manoeuvres officers use on one whose life depends on how Police Vehicle Operations at the television to run a car off the quickly help can get to the Ontario Police College in Ayl-road. Officer driver training in scene. But officers are trained to mer. The days when kids began 2007 is about taking the cowboy focus on their driving, even as driving back roads as young.as out of the cop. they mentally prepare a plan of 12, or practised doing donuts in

"There's enough cowboy in action for what they will do once the parking lot of the local mall