Fewer impaired driving charges during OPP holiday campaign

Provincial police say they laid fewer impaired driving charges across the province during the recent holiday RIDE campaign.

The OPP say 587 motorists were charged with impaired driving during the campaign, which ran from Nov. 24 to Jan. 2. That’s down from 623 drivers who were charged a year ago.

This year, police say they issued on-the-spot suspensions to 366 drivers — that’s down from 407 last year. Those drivers had their license suspended for having a blood-alcohol concentration between .05 and .08.

Officers conducted more checkpoints than in past campaigns, with 9,830 RIDE events throughout the province, surpassing the 7,343 RIDE events conducted over the previous season’s campaign.

Police say 44 people died in alcohol- or drug-related collisions on OPP-patrolled roads in 2017.