For those who don't know what's up (in the sky, if you'll excuse the pun), the white lines painted every 500 metres on a stretch of the QEW are there so the OPP can monitor traffic from their Cessna 206.

The speed of a vehicle can be determined by measuring the time it takes it to travel between two sets of the hash marks.

It's a very effective way to catch drivers who cheat and drive safely only when a police car is nearby.

The OPP used that kind of air traffic control from 1965 until 1981.

It brought back the eyes in the sky last year and recently introduced the idea in Niagara, watching the QEW between Niagara Falls and Fort Erie.

The Niagara region has one of the highest per-capita rates of fatal and serious crash rates in Ontario, and the increased traffic on holiday weekends usually amounts to increased carnage on our highways across the province.

"We're trying to do something about the carnage happening on Niagara highways," said Staff Sgt. Jan Idzenga, unit commander of the Niagara OPP detachment, in announcing the campaign locally.

To help with traffic safety initiatives, the OPP studied the tactics of the Ohio State Patrol, which has been using a fleet of helicopters and Cessnas to pick out aggressive drivers in its fight to make roads there safer.

We don't yet know the exact impact from the plane patrol during the OPP's Canada Day weekend blitz, but judging from the few people we noticed going 120 km/h -- and the many sticking right at the speed limit -- it at the very least has many drivers thinking twice about doing something stupid.

Not all of them, of course, as cruisers with their red and blue flashing lights were still seen every few kilometres talking to, if not ticketing, motorists.

The use of a plane to help catch speeders, racers and other idiots on the road is often scoffed at or called a waste of money, usually by those who speed, race or drive like idiots.

But anything we can do to reduce the carnage on Niagara roads should be applauded.