Thunder Bay Police, OPP and APS launch their 2022 Festive R.I.D.E. program - Nov 30 2022
Thunder Bay Police, Ontario Provincial Police, Anishinabek Police were out in a show of collaborative force on Balmoral Street Tuesday for the start of the Festive RIDE season.
During the holidays, in an effort to prevent the tragedies created by impaired driving, police services increase the number of ride check programs. Acting Sergeant Sal Carchidi is with the TBPS Traffic Unit, he says numbers are down between this year and last, from 221 to 173 cases, but its still an issue.
“We’re nearly at the national average for 2020, last year it was roughly 180 impaired drivers per 100,000 people. So we are at that and we still have our Festive Ride season to go through, so still disappointing numbers.”
Meanwhile numbers gathered from the Ontario Provincial Police are much worse. Provincial Constable Marc Nielsen says on roads in the Thunder Bay area patrolled by the OPP there have been 78 impaired driving charges have been laid as compared to 68 last year. For the entire Northwest region 815 to 577. However Nielsen believes he has a reason as to why those numbers are on the rise.
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- Thunder Bay Police say 173 impaired drivers have been pulled off city streets this year prior to the Festive RIDE program kickoff on Nov 29th
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- Officers from Thunder Bay Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Anishinabek Police conduct RIDE checks on Balmoral Avenue in Thunder Bay Tuesday Nov 29th
“We have an increased presence now, as the OPP has more officers available now, officer availability on the road. So now we are getting out there, having the possibility to maybe to being a little more proactive.”
Several tactics are being employed by law enforcement from the very public RIDE programs like the one seen Tuesday or as Carchido explains, something a little less conspicuous.
“You’ll see us…the fully marked cruisers, lights on, officers on the roadway. You’re also going to pull up to a stop sign and an officer is going to walk up to your window. Its going to be the high profile RIDEs but also RIDEs to target people who may try to avoid them.”
The consequences for impaired driving, both by alcohol or drugs, is an immediate impounding of the vehicle being driven for seven days along with a 90 day licence suspension.
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