The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 2, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER Group Publisher Media Group Ltd. NEIL OLIVER Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Law not tough enough Ontario's new street racing law has been in effect for barely a month and already there are indications there may be a problem with the initial legislation. The problem? It may not be tough enough. That's the view held by OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino who, this week, admitted he wishes the new law was more punitive to those drivers with lead feet. In just over one month, more than 1,000 -- 1,060 to be exact -- motorists have been caught driving more than 50 km-h over the posted limit. Drivers nabbed exceeding that threshold face stiff penalties which include a minimum $2,000 fine and a week-long licence suspension. Police also seize the driver's vehicle. Since the law took effect Sept. 30, police have caught an average of 38 drivers a day. Fantino says he now regrets that the threshold for speeding wasn't set at 30 km-h and admits he is surprised that the number of charges laid hasn't dropped as the public becomes more aware of the new law. We share Fantino's surprise. No vehicle for a week, a hefty fine and loss of a driver's licence should be deterrents for smart-thinking people. What possible reason can a driver have for doing 150 km-h on the QEW or Hwy. 401? While the posted speed on most major highways is 100 kmh, the majority of drivers on those roads exceed that limit by 10-20 kmh. Is that not fast enough? Motorists who drive at speeds 50 km-h over the posted limit are simply playing a game of Russian roulette with their lives. Unfortunately, by doing so they also involve other innocent drivers and passengers in their deadly contest. While it may be too early to revisit and alter this law, we encourage the OPP to allocate more officers to patrolling the highways in an effort to get even more speed demons off the roads. Perhaps by charging more drivers, our lawmakers will be forced to rethink this legislation to punish speeders more harshly. One wonders, though, if there would be enough storage space for the impounded cars. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Re: Crowded hospitals causing ambulance delays, The Oakville Beaver, Oct. 5. As a Halton paramedic I need to stress that the offload delay problem is a time bomb waiting to explode. Relying on neighbouring services at times of need is no longer realistic. They too are suffering the concerns of offload delays and inadequate staffing levels. That said, to imply that Emergency Response Units are the way of the future is completely irresponsible. ERUs are a Band-aid solution to the real problem: an under-serviced and understaffed EMS system in Halton. Paramedics do provide highly-skilled, pre-hospital care in the field. However, Off-load delay problem is a time bomb waiting to explode: Halton paramedic life-threatening emergencies still require treatment at a hospital. ERUs are not the answer. So how does Halton EMS maintain its response times? The region deploys available ambulances to predetermined street corners around Halton as resources become unavailable. These "standby's" mean that diesel rigs idle 24/7 around the region, adding to global warming and pollution. Paramedics spend the majority of their 12-hour shifts either responding to calls or sitting on standby. This means paramedics do not get breaks, leading to high levels of frustration, stress, low morale and a high rate of turnover. As one of the fastest-growing regions in Canada, we need not one new 12-hour ambulance but several new 24-hour ambulances just to keep up with the pace. It is our hope that someone doesn't have to die before this crisis is fixed. However, off-load delays mixed with limited available resources are just a tragedy waiting to happen. MICHAEL LAWSON VP, OPSEU LOCAL 207, HALTON REGION EMS Not enough police in Bronte As a resident of Bronte for 20 years, it comes as no surprise that there is an increase in street violence in this area. Groups of teenagers have been gathering in Bronte on the weekends and weeknights when there is no school and creating problems for the neighbourhood for as long as I remember. Vandalism, fighting, screaming and drunkenness are just some of the activities the local population has been subjected to through the early morning hours. On numerous occasions, the police have been called and dispersed the crowd at Lakeshore Road and East Street only to have them reassemble as soon as the police have gone. Bronte needs a permanent police presence to deal with this problem. ROBERT CRISELL The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council.The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206,Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone 416-340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com