As the holiday season winds down, Ontario Provincial Police are examining the results of a program designed to keep impaired drivers off the roads.
The OPP for the West Region released its Festive RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) results Thursday, for the period between November 16, 2002, and this past Tuesday. Officers in Essex County laid impaired driving charges on 29 people over the holidays.
The figure from this holiday season is the highest in the last three years after 17 drivers were charged over the 2021-2022 winter holiday season. Eleven were cited the year before and 22 in 2019-2020.
Working around the clock, officers in communities patrolled by the OPP set up 153 RIDE checkpoints during the holidays.
Over and above the charges already laid, the OPP also said five drivers were issued warn-range suspensions for having blood-alcohol concentrations of between 0.05 and 0.08 per cent.
The OPP worked with Windsor police and LaSalle police to ensure people got to and from holiday gatherings safely.
Across the West Region, the OPP reported a total of 278 impaired charges laid, close to last year's 280. There was a total of 1,904 RIDE checkpoints set up.
---with files from Maureen Revait and Janice MacKay
