The tough diehards of Durham Police yesterday said they were touched by a romantic interlude during a no-nonsense on-road Festive Ride breath test on Sunday.
DRPS Traffic Services was up in the Township of Scugog conducting Ride when a little holiday romance shone through.
While a driver was preforming a breath test (and passed), her partner brought her jacket out from the car and draped it over her as she provided her sample, officers said.
“…and they say romance is dead!” they remarked.
Ride Week Four: 16 impaired
DRPS completed its fourth week of the 2023 Festive Ride program, stopping more than 1,991 vehicles and charging 16 drivers with impaired driving offences.
Durham Regional officers conducted checks throughout the region with the following totals (the numbers in brackets reflect 2022 fourth week totals for comparison):
- Vehicles stopped: 1,991 (1,550)
- People given Roadside Breath Tests: 120 (77)
- People received three-day licence suspension for registering a warn: 12 (8)
- Novice driver received a 3, 7 or 30 licence suspension: 5 (2)
- People charged with Impaired Driving Offences: 16 (14)
- Other Criminal Code Charges: 1 (1)
- Charged with various Highway Traffic Act offences: 162 (113)
- Drug Offences: 2 (0)
Members from the Durham Regional Police Services Board Vice Chair Garry Cubitt, and Board Member Mark Welch joined officers on the Ride line to thank motorists for driving sober.
This week of Ride saw DRPS officers working alongside partners with the OPP and MTO, conducting mandatory screening for alcohol with respect to commercial motor vehicles. One operator was removed from the roadways and is facing charges.
Collisions involving transport trucks and other large commercial vehicles can have devastating consequences. Commercial operators are required to have zero alcohol in their system and this serves as a reminder that our officers can and do check for the sobriety of all motorists.
A complete list of those charged with Impaired/Exceed is posted on our website www.drps.ca.
Note: Under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, anyone charged with a criminal impaired driving offence will have their driver’s licence suspended for ninety days and their vehicle impounded automatically for seven days.