The OPP is sounding a cautionary note heading into the Thanksgiving Weekend.

Officials say 224 people have already died on Ontario roads in 2020 in 209 crashes. Officials say 155 drivers, 33 passengers and 36 pedestrians lost their lives.

Speed seems to be one of the main factors – 41 of the deaths were linked to excessive speed.

The OPP says there has been almost a 30 per cent increase in the number of excessive speeding charges this year – officers have laid almost 6,800 racing and stunt driving charges so far this year.

Forty of the people who died were not wearing their seat belts and impaired driving could be linked to 35 deaths.

OPP say over the long weekend, they will be highly visible throughout the province making sure drivers are doing their part to keep people who share the roads.

“With three months to go in what continues to be an exceptionally difficult year for people, every driver and – where seat belt use is concerned – passenger, is in a position to stop the senseless loss of life on our roads,” says OPP Chief superintendent Rohan Thompson in a news release.

” All it takes is a firm commitment to refrain from engaging in dangerous behaviours and habits that cut innocent lives short and leave many victims with life-changing injuries every year.”