As it heads into its fourth week, the OPP’s Festive Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere campaign has been highly successful in dealing with impaired drivers on Ontario roads.
As of Dec. 20, 835 impaired drivers had been pulled over in OPP RIDE stops. Of that total, 455 drivers were charged with impaired driving and 380 were issued immediate warning range suspensions for having a Blood Alcohol Concentration between .05 and .08mgs per 100ml of blood.
“Last year, 308 persons were charged with impaired driving over the entire 2010-2011 Festive RIDE campaign and it is extremely disappointing to hear that 455 persons have been charged with impaired driving already, with almost two more weeks to go in the campaign,” said OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis.
“We’ve been very clear about how dangerous impaired driving is and how consistently that driving behaviour kills and injures innocent people so there are no excuses for this behaviour continuing the way it is.”
Since the campaign got underway, OPP RIDE stops have been conducted throughout the province, yet the numbers to date demonstrate that far too many drivers still don’t care about risking their own lives, the lives of others or losing their driving privileges, according to Chief Superintendent Don Bell, Commander of the OPP Highway Safety Division.
“With New Year’s Eve [days] away, we want to send a strong reminder to drivers that the Festive RIDE campaign will remain strong and highly visible right through to the New Year,” said Bell.
“There is no ‘best time’ to drink and drive over the holidays because our Festive RIDE stops run 24/7, so driving sober is the only way to keep everyone safe on the road and eliminate the chance of losing your license.”
Impaired driving is important enough that Lewis made it the focus of The Commish program, a live call-in show on Dec. 21 on CP24-TV.
