Local law enforcement agencies are once again joining forces to ensure that motorists are driving sober during the holiday season.
Sault Ste. Marie Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Anishinabek Police Service officially launched this year’s Festive RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaign Wednesday, which will see officers conducting roadside checks in Sault Ste. Marie from now until the new year.
“Impaired driving is a concern for us year round, however, during the holiday season people are more likely to get together and celebrate and may use alcohol and/or drugs, and we want the message to be don’t be out there driving, because we’ll be out there looking for you,” said Sgt. Ray Magnan, traffic sergeant for Sault Ste. Marie Police Service. “We don’t want any tragedies during the holiday season.”
Magnan said that although impaired driving charges have nearly doubled this year when compared to 2020, the numbers are consistent with impaired driving charges in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But overall, Sault Ste. Marie Police Service has seen a consistent increase in drug-related impaired driving charges over the past two years, with more officers out there looking for drug-impaired driving than previous years.
Magnan said the police service is actively getting its officers trained as drug recognition experts and training in order to conduct field sobriety testing for drugs. Sault police is also looking for about half a dozen officers to undergo field sobriety testing within the next couple of weeks.
“We’ve seen that in some of our serious collisions as well, that there’s the involvement of drugs in the collision, whereas in the past it was primarily alcohol,” Magnan said.
Not only has Magnan noticed more drug-related impaired driving charges - the most he’s ever seen in his 30 years of policing - he’s also surprised by the wide array of drugs that have shown up during testing.
“I’ve seen some of these test come back when somebody’s urine or blood is tested, and there’s quite a few drugs - drugs I’ve never even heard of - that we’re seeing in people’s system that are illegal intoxicants,” he said.
Magnan said that officers will be fully masked when conducting roadside checks.
“Now with the mandatory alcohol screening, there’s no requirement anymore for the officers to smell alcohol - they can make a demand without any smell of alcohol whatsoever, so that helps us out in being a little more COVID-safe when we’re doing RIDE checks,” Magnan said.
Those caught driving while impaired could face licence suspension, vehicle impoundment, fines and jail time. Drivers under the age of 22 - in addition to all G1, G2 and commercial drivers - could face an automatic three-day licence suspension should any drugs or alcohol be found in their system.
People are asked to call 911 if they suspect someone is driving impaired. Sault Ste. Marie Police Service advises motorists that the provincial Highway Traffic Act allows drivers who are calling police, fire or ambulance to use their cell phone while driving.
“The goal isn’t to arrest impaired drivers - if it happens, we’ll act and we’ll do it. We want to make people aware, and we want to make people safe,” said Marc Lesage, acting chief for Anishinabek Police Service.
A total of 1,842 vehicles were stopped and checked by Sault Ste. Marie Police Service during the 2020 Festive RIDE campaign. Those checks resulted in 29 roadside tests conducted, 14 criminal charges related to impaired driving and a single three-day licence suspension.