RIDE checks return New Year’s Eve

Niagara Regional Police will be out in force on Sunday, cracking down on impaired drivers as part of its Festive RIDE program.

Police spokesperson Stephanie Sabourin said the NRP will have teams stationed across the region on New Year’s Eve.

“Our traffic enforcement unit has been actively conducting RIDE checks throughout the region on an ongoing basis, with a special emphasis the last few months with the holiday season,” she said in an email.

Police, she added, have been running a social media campaign that uses the hashtag #YourBestDriving to promote “zero alcohol, zero impairment by drugs, no distracted driving, speeding and wearing a seatbelt at all times.”

Sabourin said police can’t disclose the location of RIDE stops planned for the weekend “for tactical reasons as well as officer safety.”

Police were criticized last year when no RIDE spot checks were conducted on New Year’s Eve, because there were not enough officers available at the time.

However, then police chief Jeff McGuire explained at the time, that “patrolling officers arrested a number of drivers on that particular night,” responding to 911 calls about impaired drivers, as well as the observations by officers. “It may not be perfect, but I don’t think it limited us in our ability to keep the community safe,” he said.

Sabourin said that won’t be the case this year, when enforcement “is consistent with what we have done in past years.”

She said police encourage drivers to “plan ahead” before an event that could include drinking alcohol.

“Designate a driver who will not be consuming alcohol or drugs, arrange for a safe ride home or stay the night,” she said.

“We also ask drivers to be aware and recognize that they may not be in a position to legally drive the following morning depending on their alcohol consumption the night prior.”

In addition to RIDE stops conducted throughout the year, funded in part by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, this year’s NRP Festive RIDE program has so far included four spot checks set up in eight locations. Stops were set up Dec. 2, 9, 15 and 23, in Niagara Falls, West Lincoln, Niagara- on- the-Lake, Grimsby and St. Catharines. During those stops, 41 drivers were required to provide breath samples, three people were arrested after providing breath samples over the legal limit, and six had their licences suspended for three days.

In comparison, police only set up three RIDE spot checks in all of December a year earlier.