Every night in his neighbourhood, Councillor Sean Devine can sometimes hear the sound of a “20-foot wide mosquito buzzing” outside.
Residents are often woken up several times in the middle of the night, which Devine, who represents Knoxdale-Merivale, says could lead to public health issues and a poor quality of life. Ottawa’s stunt-driving culture has grown and affected people all over the city but enforcement and ensuring public safety is a more nuanced subject.
“We’re trying to get involved and find out what might be the gaps, whether it comes to enforcement tools or court procedures that impede Ottawa police and other police,” Devine, who represents Knoxdale-Merivale, said.
Ottawa’s stunt-driving culture has grown and
affected people all over the city
. Last month, a 19-year-old man
attempted to flee arrest
after participating in an illegal car-racing gathering in Ottawa’s southwest area. He struck two OPP officers, who suffered minor injuries.
Since Jan. 1, 2025, there have been 179 charges for stunt driving in Ottawa, according to the Ottawa Police Service.
“To me, not only is speed raising stunt-driving an extremely dangerous offense, it’s also a public nuisance,” said Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine.
“Find me one person in Ottawa that lives anywhere near an arterial road that hasn’t been woken up by the sound of these cars going at these speeds.”
What is stunt-driving and what are the penalties?
Stunt driving
is when drivers begin driving 40 to 50 km/h over the speed limit, usually reaching up to 150 km/h or more. It also includes aggressive driving, such as cutting off or driving too close to other vehicles and pedestrians.
Street racing falls under the general definition of stunt driving, often sharing overlapping penalties. When two or more vehicles begin racing or chasing each other on the road, it often leads to high and dangerous rates of speed — resulting in stunt driving.
Both are a violation under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act. If a driver is convicted of stunt driving or street racing charges, they are subject to an immediate 30-day licence suspension, a 14-day vehicle impoundment, a maximum fine of $10,000 (with a minimum of $2,000) and a jail term of up to six months.
They also receive a “post-conviction” licence suspension, six demerit points and a mandatory driver improvement course, as well as facing an increase in insurance rates or the risk of becoming uninsurable.
The penalties for excessive speeding and stunt driving are completely different. Drivers convicted of speeding charges are often subject to fines and possible demerit points. Stunt-driving penalties are much stiffer.
What about large car gatherings or illegal rallies?
Car enthusiasts often hold gatherings in parking lots across the city, most commonly in Barrhaven, Kanata and College ward, says Const. Phil Kane of the Ottawa police’s Traffic Escort and Enforcement Unit.
Sometimes these gatherings can get out of hand when drivers choose to behave recklessly or commit illegal activities, such as stunt driving, racing or doing donuts in the parking lot. Charges can be laid if police are able to catch the drivers, said Kane. They also have the option to lay charges at a later date if the vehicle and drivers can be identified.
“There’s a lot of straight roads leading to and from these places so a lot of these drivers and ‘enthusiasts’ will take it upon themselves to use the roads as their own personal racetracks, obviously endangering their lives and the lives of every other road user,” Kane said.
“Police have a job to do. We’re there to protect the citizens and even those drivers who are engaging in that behaviour. Lots of times, we’re there to protect them from some of their silly antics.”
A lot of car rallies are monitored by the Ottawa police and joint operations with the OPP, RCMP and Ministry of Transportation (MTO).
“Sometimes we’re actively in the car meets. Sometimes it’s undercover officers,” said Kane. “You may not see us, but we’re certainly gathering a lot of information.”
Ontario has some of the most severe and toughest penalties for the offence in North America, said Kane. They just need to be applied.
“The penalties are there,” he said. “It’s just up to the courts to implement them.”
How are suburban neighbourhoods affected?
Hans Moor, who’s lived in Nepean for 25 years, is sometimes woken up past midnight to the sound of a “high-pitch motorbike engine”.
“I hear them at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 3:30 a.m.,” he said. “It kind of goes on and on.”
Moor said the sound has caused some upset with his nearby neighbours. “At a certain point, it becomes a bit of a public health issue,” he said. “If you can’t have a good night’s sleep…(it) obviously affects your mood at some point.”
The infrastructure around his neighbourhood, wide roads such as Merivale and Baseline, makes it easier for these drivers to reach such high speeds, Moor says. The issue affects residents all over Ottawa.
“They basically keep tens of thousands of people awake at night,” he said. “People have to go to work the next day.”
Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill said stunt driving and street racing have been issues in his ward since he’s been in office. Residents who live near major roads, such as Greenbank or Fallowfield, are affected by drivers who “rip around completely irresponsibly,” he said.
“There are people who have had their sleep disrupted every day for months on end during the summer months and it creates an extreme anxiety issue,” he said. “It’s one thing to get woken up once in a while but, when it happens night after night, it can severely impact your quality of life.”
Devine believes his ward and Hill’s have among the highest number of instances and reports of stunt driving because of their long stretches of arterial roads.
“Those are roads that are very enticing to the stunt-driving community because they’re just a long, long road, with nice, cool, slick curves,” Devine said. “I get tons of emails and phone calls in the summer about the speed and the danger from that.”
What do councillors want to see?
As a municipality, Ottawa is a “creature of the province,” said Devine.
“There are many, many, many times when we at Ottawa city council, we would love to do something,” he said. “But either we don’t have the power to do it because it’s not our jurisdiction, or we don’t have the resources to do it.”
When stunt-driving charges are reduced to speeding fines, offenders are able to walk off with a “slap on the wrist” when compared to the stiff penalties set by the province, said Devine.
Because of the workload courts face, it’s not uncommon for a sentence to be pleaded down to speeding just to get the case off the docket, said Hill.
“It undermines the authority that officers have roadside in order to address stunt racing,” Hill says. “If there were mechanisms for on-site charges that are laid by officers to be more harsh or for flexibility in the court process … (it) would allow for the process to allow for better application of justice.”
While Ontario has severe penalties for those convicted of stunt driving, Devine says British Columbia and Alberta have longer options for suspension and vehicle impoundments, which are usually tied to the severity of the incident and if it was committed by a repeat offender.
At August’s Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting, Devine and Hill spoke with Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Sarkaria to advocate for stiffer penalties and improving court procedures to apply those penalties.
“If we can get those changes made at the provincial level, that would be the biggest change in the system. We’re trying to get involved and find out what might be the gaps, whether it comes to enforcement tools or court procedures that impede Ottawa police and other police.”
Hill wants to explore the option of using noise-detection technology already in use in California.
“If somebody has an illegally modified muffler system that is extremely loud and would otherwise wake up thousands of people on Strandherd Road, (then) this sound radar system could connect to the red light cameras and essentially detect the decibel level. If it’s non-compliant, it would send them a ticket.”
Bundle together more severe sentences, noise detection technology and more police officers in suburban communities and it would help deter illegal behaviour, said Hill.
Over the past year, Devine and Hill have had conversations with the Ottawa Police Service on how to provide better enforcement tools to take action against unsanctioned car rallies.
Car rallies are tougher spaces for police officers to enforce any action, since large groups of people are gathered and it could be dangerous for officers to try to enter to issue tickets, said Devine.
In May 2025, he presented a motion that would include “nuisance car rallies” as an emerging issue to be considered in the next bylaw review.
Devine hopes Ottawa can follow the city of Vaughn’s model, in which bylaw amendments gave officers the tools to issue stunt-driving fines to people without necessarily having to apprehend them. That allows officers to safely approach vehicles and drivers they have documented committing illegal activity at a later date, he said.
What happens when a stunt driving charge reaches court?
It’s important for a driver charged with stunt driving to speak with a lawyer to understand the complexities of the legal system and what viable defences can be used, said Mark Sindle, an Ottawa criminal defence lawyer.
Sometimes a stunt-driving charge can be reduced if the offender pleads guilty to a speeding charge, said Sindle. But it depends on a number of factors.
The first thing he does is look at a driver’s MTO record to see if they have prior convictions. If there are none, it becomes a helpful negotiation tool to argue with the Crown that the incident can be considered a “one-off situation” of speeding or driving in a reckless manner, said Sindle.
He also gets to know the client more.
“I understand their background and sometimes that will help when I contact the prosecutor about what type of person they are, if they need their car for work, and any other collateral consequences that would be involved with the stunt-driving conviction,” said Sindle.
“Sometimes that helps pressure the Crown or the prosecutor into giving you a better resolution.”
While stunt driving and street racing are regulatory offences, there are times where these charges can amount to a criminal offence, and it’s up to the discretion of police officers when they’re laying the charge, said Sindle.
“It depends on the nature of their driving whether they’ll be charged under the Highway Traffic Act, which is a regulatory statute or a provincial statute versus dangerous operation under the Criminal Code.”
In his practice, he said there are many people charged with stunt driving as a solo charge. But he also often sees the charge coupled with impaired driving charges.
Stiff penalties are enacted for a reason, said Sindle.
“It’s largely just the dangerousness of the acts or the offence itself,” he said. “This is what the legislators decided was required to deter people from driving in that manner.”
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