Thunder Bay police launch 2021 Festive RIDE as impaired driving arrests remain near record levels
CBC
Thunder Bay police are stepping up their efforts to curb impaired driving on city streets over the holiday season.
Police on Friday kicked off their annual Festive RIDE program, which will run over the next few weeks, into the New Year.
And the number of impaired drivers in the city doesn't appear to be falling, Acting Traffic Sgt. Salvatore Carchidi said.
"This year, unfortunately, we've already surpassed 2019's numbers," Carchidi said during the Festive RIDE campaign's media launch on Balmoral Street. "In 2019, we had 169 impaired drivers, and that number rose to 299 in 2020, which is very upsetting to us."
Carchidi said he hoped 2020's record-setting total was an "anomaly," but as of Friday, police had charged 220 impaired drivers in 2021.
"We're on pace for that near-300 number again," he said.
Carchidi said police are charging impaired drivers at all hours of the day, seven days a week.
"Impaired driving can result in fatal collisions or any collisions, and that can put a true hardship on any family member during the holiday season, especially," Carchidi said. "We want to ensure those drivers are off the roadway during the holiday season."
And, Carchidi said, police tend to see an increase in impaired driving charges during the Festive RIDE program, as it allows them to conduct more checks during the holiday season.
He added that police see about a 50/50 split between drivers who are charged for driving while impaired by drugs, and those charged for driving while impaired by alcohol.
"I think the opioid crisis obviously extends to that," he said. "The people addicted to drugs need to traverse, and unfortunately they don't choose a safe means of doing so. So their addiction clouds their judgment and allows them to drive."
However, he said, police have increased their training, and officers are equipped to spot drivers who are impaired by drugs.
As for the region, OPP Sgt. Mike Golding said officers haven't seen an increase in impaired driving on northwestern Ontario highways this year.
OPP had responded to 386 impaired driving incidents in the northwest as of October 2021.
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