Sarnia police are growing increasingly concerned about a continuing rise in impaired driving numbers locally.
Cst. Shawn Urban said the city has reached an all-time high, noting this year's numbers are 25 per cent higher than the previous 10 years.
He said a lot of the impaired drivers they've stopped have been very aggravating.
"We've seen extremely high readings and vehicle accidents," said Cst. Urban. "With people impaired by drugs, we see people passed out behind the wheel. It's very obvious to our officers that there are signs of impairment there. I'm not sure what the cause of it is, but given the time of the rise I can only assume the legalization of cannabis has something to do with it."
Officers continue to crack down on alcohol and drug-impaired driving and have launched RIDE programs for the holiday season.
Cst. Urban said police don't need a reason to ask someone in a RIDE program for a breath sample.
"Failure to do so results in a criminal charge of refusing to provide," he said. "That is actually a higher consequence than impaired driving. That carries a minimum fine of $2,000 instead of the $1,000 fine. All of the laws changed in December of last year and that was one of them."
He said if you provide a sample of between 50 and 99 mg, you'll be on the hook for a higher fine in the hundreds of dollars.
