Alcohol / Speed factors in 2 Deaths

Toronto Sun

Impaired driving and speed are believed to be behind two separate accidents that claimed two young lives early yesterday.
The first fatality occurred near Bloor and Bathurst. Sts. around 2:30 a.m. when a woman, 25, out celebrating a friend's birthday was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver, Toronto Police say.
"It was just bad timing," Sgt. Tim Burrows of Traffic Services said yesterday of the city's 10th traffic fatality of the year.
A woman, 24, who was driving a Chevy Uplander pulled out of a parking lot on Lippincott St. and drove north toward the victim and her friends, who were standing on the sidewalk just south of Bloor St., police said.
"As the Chevy Uplander was passing by, the pedestrian tripped and fell backward onto the road," Burrows said, adding the minivan allegedly "ran over" the young woman.
DRINKING
Burrows said some among the group had definitely been drinking. But he was unable to say if the victim, whose name was not released, had consumed alcohol.
The driver, Sin Jung Cho, was arrested at the scene and charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing death and driving over 80 mg causing death. She was later released on bail.
About half an hour after the woman was killed, crews responded to another accident on Hwy. 403 near Eglinton Ave. just west of Toronto.
A Mississauga man driving a Mazda 626 drifted across three southbound lanes and smashed into a steel guardrail, OPP Sgt. Dave Woodford said, adding speed was likely a factor in the deadly crash.
Woodford said investigators are looking into other possible factors, such as mechanical problems or fatigue. But alcohol is not believed to have been involved.
The victim, 24, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene.
CHRIS.DOUCETTE@SUNMEDIA.CA