More than 1,000 charges laid during OPP Festive RIDE campaign

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Published December 21, 2021 at 12:20 pm

It’s been a busy month for Ontario Provincial Police as more than 1,000 charges have been laid during an annual crackdown on impaired driving.

In a video posted to Twitter on Monday, Sgt. Kerry Schmidt with the OPP Highway Safety Division said he was “astonished” by the number of charges officers have laid so far as part of the Festive Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) campaign.

For example, Schmidt said officers stopped a woman on Monday who was “stumbling outside of her vehicle” and she tested “three or four times the legal limit.”

“These kinds of behaviors put everyone at risk, and we need everyone to think about the consequences of their actions and how that can effect your safety and everyone you’re sharing the road with,” Schmidt said.

Since Nov. 18, Schmidt said police have laid 874 impaired driving charges, and another 127 people have been charged with either dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving or evading police.

Another 269 people have been charged with street racing or stunt driving.

With Christmas and New Years just around the corner, Schmidt asked drivers to make plans to get home safely when celebrating and not to t put others at risk.

“We don’t want to have that call come in of a vehicle that’s been involved in a collision that’s caused injuries, and certainly not claimed a life,” he said.

Members of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) were out on Caledon roads last weekend and set up a handful of checkstops, laying at least 16 impaired driving charges in the checkstop blitz.

The charges included four counts of driving with cannabis available, two counts of driving with open liquor and three counts of driving while under suspension.

The checkstop was part of the OPP’s Festive Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) campaign which runs from Nov. 18, 2021 to Jan. 3, 2022.

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