THUNDER BAY – Police are prepared to hand out much worse than a lump of coal to those caught driving impaired during the holiday season.
Instead, that could mean licence suspensions, vehicle impounds and hefty fines.
Thunder Bay police, along with other Northwestern Ontario law enforcement agencies, kicked off the annual Festive RIDE campaign in Thunder Bay on Thursday, holding a quick stop along Arthur Street.
City police last year nabbed 30 impaired drivers during the final six weeks of 2017, with 19 of those caught at RIDE checkpoints.
“We want to make sure the public gets that message clearly that it’s not OK not normal for someone to be driving impaired,” Sgt. Gordon Snyder said.
“If you see a friend, a family member or someone you know and care about and they’ve had a few drinks and they’re thinking of driving, we all have that obligation to stop them. We don’t want a horrible event occurring. It’s that select few that still continue to drive impaired that are the ones that we’re trying to target.”
As has been the case in recent years, the program will use roaming patrols that can pop in multiple locations, rather than having officers stationed in one spot for a night.
“You can expect us out at any time. We’re going to obviously focus on weekends,” Snyder said.
“One thing we’ve done in the past, and we’ve seen unfortunate results, is in the mornings. If you drink heavily overnight until 2 a.m., 3 a.m., then get up at 8 a.m. the next morning after consuming high amounts of alcohol there’s a good chance you may still be over the legal limit.”
Police have observed a significant increase in the proportion of impaired drivers who are under the influence of drugs. Last year, only four per cent of impaired cases involved drugs. So far in 2018, that number is closer to 15 per cent.
“We attribute that to better training and skills of our officers on the road. We’re hoping this RIDE season, especially with the legalization of cannabis that we’re going to pull more drug impaired drivers off than ever before,” Cattani said.
“Cannabis is always at the forefront of people’s discussions these days given the legalization but we find both illicit and prescribed drugs make up a large percentage of our impaired drivers.”
Const. Mark Cattani said having more officers who qualify as drug recognition experts, as well as enhanced field sobriety training for roadside officers, helps them recognize the signs of impairment.
“We know a lot of the signs and symptoms just by looking at an individual whether they are potentially under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” Cattani said. “Tell the truth, first and foremost.”
Effective Dec. 18, officers will be able to demand any driver passing through a RIDE checkpoint to provide a breath sample, regardless of whether or not there is reasonable suspicion that the person has been drinking.
“If you haven’t had anything to drink and an officer still makes that demand during a RIDE program, don’t be offended,” Cattani said. “It’s just that the authorities are there to now allow us to make those kind of demands to get drunk drivers off the road.”
