THUNDER BAY – With the calendar just turning to December, city police have already starting checking names off the naughty list of those who have overindulged and gotten behind the wheel of a vehicle this holiday season.
The Thunder Bay Police Service conducted their first series of Festive RIDE checkpoints over the weekend, nabbing four impaired drivers over the course of three separate blitzes.
Const. Mark Cattani said while the number arrests is on pace to equal or surpass last year, officers didn’t encounter any other drivers who were near the threshold of having charges laid.
“We didn’t issue any three-day suspensions this weekend. Normally we see far more of the three-day suspensions for having a blood alcohol level that’s in the warn area,” Cattani said on Tuesday.
“What that tells me is our messaging is actually working with the general public. We’re telling people that if you’re going to be having a couple of drinks, get alternative transportation. Most people actually heeded that warning and that’s really good to see. That’s encouraging.”
Uniform patrol officers did arrest another impaired driver after responding to a single-vehicle crash on private property.
Of the four drivers arrested, one of them was allegedly under the influence of cannabis.
Cattani said officers are targeting all impaired drivers, not just those who have been drinking and driving.
“Impaired driving is impaired driving,” Cattani said. “If somebody is driving all over the road, showing signs of impairment and it’s cannabis as opposed to alcohol related, we don’t really change the way we do things other than the testing that we would use to prove that person is impaired.
With alcohol and marijuana, roadside officers can have an advantage as they can often smell it on impaired drivers. With cannabis and other drugs, they’re often relying on visual cues to determine if a driver is under the influence, Cattani said.
“With all drugs, cannabis included, we’re looking for a lot of the physical signs so reddened eyes, size of the pupils whether they’re dilated or constricted, a person’s speech if it’s slow and raspy or quick and choppy, and of course their motor skills as well,” Cattani said.
“On the side of the road we’re looking for some different clues than we would be looking for with alcohol impaired.”
In addition to the cannabis impaired arrest, officers laid fines against a driver in another case for cannabis being easily accessible in a vehicle.
Even though cannabis has been legalized, there are still rules regulating how it can be transported in a vehicle.
“The easiest answer is to put it in your trunk,” Cattani said, comparing it to laws prohibiting open liquor from being available within a vehicle.
Cattani cautioned that drivers can expect RIDE checkpoints to be set up at all hours of the day, noting that officers had set one up Monday morning.
“With all drugs, we find that the impaired driving happens all over equitably,” Cattani said. “With alcohol, it’s very much focused to the bar hours and party hours. But with drugs being illicit and used at all hours of the day, we find that we get impaired early, late and doesn’t really matter.”
