RIDE launch gives impaired drivers `plenty to worry about'

One familiar feature of the holiday season isn't cancelled for 2020: The Ontario Provincial Police launches its Festive RIDE (reduce impaired driving everywhere) campaign this weekend.

“Between robust mandatory alcohol screening laws, vigilant citizens and dedicated officers, the Ontario Provincial Police reminds drivers they'll have plenty to worry about if they choose to get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs over the holidays,” the force said in a release issued on Wednesday.

The campaign runs until Jan. 3. So far this year, the OPP has fielded more than 21,800 calls to report suspected impaired drivers, with the force hailing “proactive citizens” for helping keep potentially deadly drivers off the roads.

Almost 3,300 such calls were placed during the 2019-20 Festive RIDE campaign, when OPP officers conducted more than 8,800 RIDE stops and charged 605 motorists with impaired driving.

The OPP are reminding motorists that officers regularly conduct Mandatory Alcohol Screening (MAS) with drivers they pull over and will be ramping up this “investigative measure” at RIDE stops.

Officers also have drug-screening equipment that detects cannabis and cocaine in a driver's saliva at their disposal, the OPP said. It's used to enforce “zero tolerance” sanctions for young, novice and commercial drivers suspected of having used drugs.

Under impaired driving laws, police can also demand that a driver submit to a standardized field sobriety test or an evaluation by a drug recognition expert to detect impairment.

So far this year, 42 people have died on OPP-patrolled roads in collisions that involved an alcohol or drug-impaired driver.