RIDE check nabs Central Creek Drive man

OPP NEWS RELEASES

********************* Joint RIDE checks nab one impaired driver Sault Ste Marie, Ont. - A joint R.I.D.E. spot check with the Sault Ste Marie City Police and the OPP Traffic and Marine Unit resulted in an OPP officer finding at least one impaired driver.

At about 11:30 p.m. on Friday night officers with both police services had a RIDE check set up on Wallace Terrace in Sault Ste. Marie.

As a result of the spot check officers arrested 55-year-old Kenneth Jones of 25B Central Creek Drive in Sault Ste. Marie.

He has been charged with one count of operating a motor vehicle while over the legal limit of .08.

He will appear in Sault Ste. Marie court on Monday, January 9.

******************* OPP festive ride initiative - Update No. 1

ORILLIA, ON, Dec. 5 - The Highway Safety Division of the Ontario Provincial Police today released statistics for the first week of the festive season driving initiative for all OPP jurisdictions in the province of Ontario. During the first week (November 25 - December 1, 2005) of the five week RIDE festive season driving initiative which runs until January 2, 2006, a total of 98,774 vehicles were checked at roadside checkpoints.

A total of 124 - 12-hour suspensions were issued and 56 persons were charged with alcohol related drinking and driving offences, a decrease of four from the same period in 2004. There were six fatal collisions investigated by OPP personnel where six people were killed during the first week of this year's initiative compared to eight fatal collisions with nine persons killed last year.

Of the six fatal collisions, one was determined to be alcohol related. The Ontario Provincial Police remind motorists that tragedies caused by drunk drivers are preventable. This season, the OPP is asking you to join in the campaign. ARRIVE ALIVE! DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!!

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