C-K Police pleased with results of holiday R.I.D.E. program
Only one impaired driving charge was laid by the Chatham-Kent Police Service during its annual Holiday R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaign. A male driver was arrested during a R.I.D.E. spot check on Lacroix St. in Chatham on Nov.
25, as he was found to have 1.5 times the legal limit of alcohol in his system during testing at police headquarters. The man was the only driver in the 2,931 vehicles checked in 10 R.I.D.E. spot checks conducted all across Chatham-Kent during the annual holiday campaign, which ran from Nov.
16-Jan.
1. Police administered 39 roadside tests, which resulted in two three-day suspensions. Police also issued one Criminal Code charge, one liquor licence violation and seven Highway Traffic Act charges.
Along with the Holiday R.I.D.E. program, C.K.P.S. officers also set up several spot checks during their regular patrol shifts. “We were quite happy with our R.I.D.E. program for the holiday portion,” said Constable Lisa Rodger, R.I.D.E. program coordinator for the C.K.P.S. “It was really successful in our eyes that we only had one impaired driver caught and two three-day suspensions, considering there were about 3,000 vehicles checked. “We’re happy that the word was getting out and people were responsible this holiday season.” There was only one impaired charge laid in an alcohol-related crash during the eight-week duration of the Holiday R.I.D.E. campaign.
A 28-year-old Chatham man was arrested and charged with impaired driving when the vehicle he was driving was involved in a collision with a transport on Charing Cross Road at the 401 overpass on Dec.
15. The C.K.P.S. charged at least five other drivers, according to daily police reports, with impaired driving in traffic stops unrelated to the R.I.D.E. spot checks. Drivers, however, should not let their guard down now that the Holiday R.I.D.E. program is over.
The C.K.P.S. will continue to conduct spot checks throughout the municipality throughout the year. Story continues “The holidays are done, but we’re not,” Rodger said. “We already have some R.I.D.E.’s scheduled, so don’t think it’s over.”
Officers conducted 31 spot checks in 2023 before the Holiday R.I.D.E. program, as 5,213 vehicles were checked as 18 tests were administered, leading to just one three-day suspension. Police also charged 105 drivers with impaired driving from Jan.
1-Oct.
31, 2023, as 50 of those arrests were a result of motor vehicle collisions. Eight people died in impaired driving collisions in the first 10 months of 2023.
“While we’re happy with the holiday numbers, the number of impaireds throughout the year is still alarming,” Rodger said. “We’re doing our best to catch as many impaired drivers as we can, but we can’t do it without eyes everywhere. “The public has been really good reporting suspected impaired drivers, and we hope everyone continues to call in when they see something suspicious.” She said motorists are allowed to use their cell phones to dial 911 under these circumstances to report a suspected impaired driver. Meanwhile, the Ontario Provincial Police’s Elgin Detachment, which includes Chatham-Kent in its coverage area, also announced its Festival R.I.D.E. statistics from Nov.
16-Jan.
1. A total of 185 spot checks were set up in Chatham-Kent and Elgin County, resulting in 28 impaired charges and two warnings. There were 11 charges laid during the 2022-23 Festival R.I.D.E. program.
The O.P.P.’s West Region, which consists of 13 detachments from Essex County in the west to Wellington County in the east as north to Grey Bruce, conducted 2,446 Festival R.I.D.E. spot checks, stopping 13,197 vehicles as O.P.P. officers laid 353 impaired charges and 55 three-day suspensions, up from 278 charges and 35 three-day suspensions in 1,804 spot checks in the ’22-23 holiday campaign. “West Region O.P.P. will continue efforts to get impaired drivers off the road beyond the holiday season and throughout the year,” said O.P.P. West Region Inspector Mike McConnell. “Drivers can expect to see RIDE checkpoints in their area anytime.”
“Impaired driving is one of the leading causes of death, injury and property damage on Ontario roadways, and it’s entirely preventable,” McConnell said. “If you plan to drink or take drugs, use a designated driver, a taxi or a rideshare service to get home safely.”
Michael Bennett, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Ridgetown Independent News