DRPS completed its second week of the Festive R.I.D.E program, stopping 1,757 vehicles and charging seven drivers with drinking/drug and driving offences.
Although Durham Region is currently in the Red Zone due to the Covid Pandemic and vehicular traffic is lighter than usual, officers were still out monitoring road safety, said a DRPS statement.
Stops were lower by 41 per cent last week to the comparable week of 2019.
Officers conducted RIDE checks in Ajax, Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa, and Clarington with the following totals:
1,757 (2,978) Vehicles stopped by R.I.D.E.
33 (135) People given Roadside Breath Tests
3 (21) People received “3 Day Suspensions” for registering a “WARN”
0 (1) Novice Driver received a 3 Day Licence Suspension
7 (16) People were charged with Drinking and Driving Offences
6 (13) Other Criminal Code Charges
104 (69) Various Highway Traffic Act Charges issued
2 (4) Drug Offences
After the second week, the Festive RIDE team has charged a total of 14 motorists for drinking/drug driving offences. One arrested party was involved in numerous thefts and a robbery in Durham Region.
Another three motorists registered a WARN on a roadside screening device and had their driver’s licence suspended for three days.
Police would like to remind motorist about the laws around transporting cannabis in your motor vehicle. A driver cannot have cannabis in a motor vehicle when the seal of its original packaging is open and is within reach of the driver. Also under the law a motorist with a G1/G2 licence must have a zero blood alcohol content while driving.
A complete list of those charged with Impaired/Exceed will be posted on our website later this week at www.drps.ca under Hot Topics. Note: Under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, anyone charged with a drinking and driving criminal offence will have his or her driver’s licence suspended for 90 days and their vehicle impounded automatically for seven days.