ABOYNE – The Festive RIDE program is now taking place in Wellington County.
Wellington County OPP and Guelph Police Service held a RIDE launch event on Nov. 18 in front of the Wellington County Museum and Archives, but the program officially runs from Nov. 21 to Jan. 2.
“There will be a team from our traffic management unit here in Wellington County that … will be dedicated to the RIDE program and they will be conducting RIDE checks throughout the county at all times of the day and all days of the week in order to detect and remove impaired drivers from our roads to ensure safety for everyone,” said Wellington County OPP provincial constable Kirk MacDonald.
Due to COVID-19, officers will be taking all the necessary precautions while interacting with the public and they’ll be wearing PPE.
“The officers will also try to find a balance between ensuring their safety as well as the occupants of the vehicles, but at the same time looking for signs of impairment,” MacDonald said.
“It’s obviously going to be a challenging balance but so far since COVID first hit us, officers have made arrests and detected impaired drivers at ride programs so far throughout the year.”
MacDonald also said officers are experienced in detecting signs of impairment so smelling someone’s breath, which is very difficult when masks are worn, isn’t as imperative.
In a year when holiday parties and family gatherings are discouraged due to rising COVID-19 cases, MacDonald said it is difficult to predict if that would equate to fewer impairment charges.
“We are still unfortunately getting reports of impaired drivers,” he said. “Often times people will question why we do RIDEs at, say, early morning or in the middle of the afternoon.
“The reality is, we sometimes get impaired drivers at all different times of the day and so it isn’t necessarily people out socializing and drinking.”
Last year Wellington County OPP reported the most impaired charges (29) in the OPP’s West Region during the Festive RIDE program. Additionally, 30 more people received warning range suspensions (blood alcohol level between 50 and 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood).
“Hopefully the numbers will be much less than they were the last couple years,” MacDonald said.
This year the OPP is encouraging alternative ways to get home if someone feels they’ve consumed too much alcohol or drugs.
“We have lots more ride share options available now … in the county and so the message we want to put out is … for people to plan ahead and arrive alive and don’t put your life or others’ at risk.”
