Police nix school safety blitz to respond to airport taxi dispute
Traffic cops had to abandon a school zone safety blitz on Tuesday to respond to a taxi protest at the Ottawa airport.
The “back to school safety blitz” for the first day of school was cut short due when airport taxi drivers decided to blockade the Airport Parkway Tuesday morning. The protest by dozens of drivers — angry about dramatic increases in passenger pickup fees — forced police to close the Parkway for several hours.
It also led to at least one, and possibly two, serious incidents of vandalism against other cabbies.
Const. Jon Hall, a member of the Ottawa Police Traffic Unit, tweeted out that the traffic unit had to end its blitz at several schools in order to respond. The school blitz resumed on Wednesday, however, as the airport dispute settled down — at least so far. The school blitz was designed to monitor traffic violations in several school zones around the city as tens of thousands of children returned to class after the summer holiday season.
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