MANITOULIN—Two drivers were charged with driving impaired due the consumption of alcohol during the Manitoulin Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Festive RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) roadside checks this holiday season. Last year there were no impaired driver charges laid on Manitoulin during the OPP Festive RIDE.
“In my opinion, one impaired driving charge is too many,” stated Manitoulin OPP (Constable) Community Services Officer (CSO) Steve Hart. “One impaired driving charge is too many, zero impaired charges would be better.”
Festive RIDE roadside checkpoints conducted by the OPP have become a familiar part of the holiday season and an effective countermeasure to the road safety issue of impaired driving, a release notes. Impaired driving remains the leading cause of criminal death in Canada.
One drink can reduce your ability to concentrate and slow your reaction time. The more alcohol in your blood, the more your ability to operate a motor vehicle is affected. Drivers who blow over the legal limit of .08 or who refuse a breath test will have their driver’s licenses suspended immediately for 90 days under Ontario’s Administrative Drivers License Suspension Program.
This 90-day suspension is separate and distinct from any criminal charges. Immediate roadside suspensions of driver licenses are issued by the OPP to drivers who register a blood alcohol concentration in the “warn range” of .05 to .08. Offenders will not be allowed to drive from that point on for a minimum of three days.
The Manitoulin Detachment of the OPP conducted the annual Festive RIDE campaign from Monday, November 23 to Saturday, January 2, 2016. During the 2015-16 campaign, 2,264 vehicle drivers were checked by police. Of those drivers checked, two were found to be impaired by the consumption of alcohol and charged accordingly. One driver was issued a roadside “warn range” suspension. Three vehicle occupants were charged under provisions of the controlled drugs and substances act.
Constable Hart reported that during the OPP Festive RIDE program last year, from November 29, 2014 to January 3, 2015, there were no impaired driver charges laid by the OPP during checks. Three Liquor Act charges were laid for occupants in vehicles and one drug charge was laid during this time. There were also a couple of Criminal Code charges laid, but no driver suspensions.
While the OPP does increase the number of RIDE stops over the holidays, RIDE checks continue throughout the year. The OPP is reminding motorists that there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption when driving.
