Ontario Provincial Police launches ‘Stop. Look. Live.’ campaign

West Region OPP Sgt. Ed Sanchuk unveiled the “Stop. Look. Live.” safe driving campaign on Monday. The initiative aims to eliminate preventable collisions at intersections. West Region OPP X screenshot

By Lee Griffi

The West Region of the Ontario Provincial Police is launching the "Stop. Look. Live." campaign in response to ongoing concerns surrounding fatal and serious collisions at intersections across the area.

“Intersection-related collisions continue to have devastating consequences for individuals, families and communities,” said Sgt. Ed Sanchuk, the OPP’s coordinator of media services. “In both 2024 and 2025, 13 lives were lost each year as a result of failure-to-yield and intersection-related incidents. Since May, the West Region OPP has responded to three separate intersection-related fatal collisions, each claiming five lives.”

From June 15-21, OPP officers across the region will focus on enforcement and public education, targeting behaviours such as failing to stop at stop signs, failing to yield the right of way and inattentive driving.

The announcement comes just days after a tragic collision in Mapleton took the lives of five siblings from the same Elmira family.

“The campaign was in the works prior to this tragedy occurring. We were actually looking at kicking the campaign off on (June 15) due to other collisions that were related to intersections. What we've done is we've created the Stop. Look. Live. campaign. Unfortunately, it's coinciding with the tragic death of five young children who were involved in the crash,” said Sanchuk.

He added police want to make sure people understand the campaign is about stopping and looking.

“Looking twice is going to save a life and proceeding through so that people don't become involved in these crashes. Unfortunately, since May of 2025, we have gone to three separate crashes at three separate intersections. Each collision involved claimed the lives of five people.”

In an interview with the Gazette, Sanchuk said he had a close call with a driver on Monday morning and used it as an opportunity to educate.

“I was coming to work this morning when a driver pulled directly out in front of me. I had the right of way. They had a two-way stop sign, and they said they didn't see me. It comes down to the fact that we need to train our brain. If we need to get up earlier in the morning to make sure we make it to work on time, so we're not rushing, and we can focus on driving.”

He didn’t give the driver a ticket but was more than pleased to offer some education.

“Regardless of how upset people are, it comes down to the fact that this individual would have caused a serious crash. I was travelling at 80 km/hr, and they pulled directly in front of me. I took some evasive action to maneuver my vehicle and thankfully got out of the way, but we would have seen another intersection-related crash this morning.”

Sanchuk said drivers need to focus solely on driving by putting the distractions away.

“Stop looking at your GPS, stop drinking coffee, make sure you focus 100 per cent of your driving tasks so you make it to where you need to go, but more importantly, you get home safe to your families because the last thing that anybody needs is to have a knock on the door from a police officer saying that your loved one has been seriously injured or killed as a result of a preventable crash.”

Sanchuk said the time for people to change their driving habits is long overdue and he mentioned some egregious examples of misbehaviour.

“When you start looking at people in the mornings, again, you pull up to the intersection or at a stop sign, people are on their cell phones. Put the technology away. It's not worth risking your life for the lives of innocent people. I've also seen people doing makeup, brushing their hair. Do that at home. You don't need to be putting makeup on when you're travelling down the 401 at 100 km/hr or faster.”

He added the vast majority of collisions are preventable and preventing those collisions would ease the burden on police officers, firefighters and others.

“We just need people to know they're not invincible. We need to make sure people share the roadways, make sure they're polite to each other and just get to where they're going safely. It really hits home for everybody that's been involved, the first responders, call takers, dispatchers and even the good Samaritans who stopped to assist (in Mapleton). It was truly a horrific crash.”

No charges have been laid, but the investigation into the collision continues.