Drinking, drugging, and driving don’t mix, and police are ready to take those drivers off our roads.
This morning, the area policing services, including the North Bay Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, Anishinabek Police Service, and 22 Wing Military Police, convened at the intersection of Highway 654 and Highway 94 – Wasi Corners, for those in the know – to launch their annual Festive RIDE initiative.
Jeff Warner, Inspector of Operations with the North Bay Police Service, noted “From what we’re seeing this year compared to last year, it appears that our alcohol-related impaired charges are down slightly.” However, “Drug-impaired charges are up.”
Warner spoke to BayToday as about 10 police officers stopped all vehicles heading toward the intersection at Wasi Corners. To remind you, RIDE stands for Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere, and the Inspector said police will be ramping up those operations throughout the holiday season.
Inspector Warner said, ‘We’re going to have more officers dedicated to RIDE programs this year. We’ve increased our presence on the roadways throughout the year, but definitely during the festive season.”
The increased presence begins now, and you can expect more RIDE programs until January 1.
People still aren’t getting the message to stop impaired driving. The OPP noted in a release that so far this year, 45 Ontarians “Have been lost in impaired driving-related incidents on OPP-patrolled roads.”
The North Bay Police Service highlighted that throughout the province last year, 616 lives were lost due to impaired driving. “Nearly 100 people are injured every day in Ontario as a result of impaired driving collisions,” the North Bay Police Service’s release explained.
See: Impaired driving is still a problem, workshop told
Of the hundreds of cars stopped this morning, there were no impaired charges levied – at least while BayToday was on site – but for those who are caught, the fines are steep. For a first offence you can receive an immediate roadside 90-day licence suspension with a $281 licence reinstatement fee.
Your vehicle could be impounded for seven days, and you could also be levied a $550 fine.
Inspector Warner has been a police officer for close to 28 years, and he’s been involved with his share of RIDE campaigns. “The message is getting out there,” he said, but clearly not all are getting that message.
“So, we’ll just keep being out there,” Inspector Warner said, “Trying to battle it as best we can.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
