More than 80 impaired driving arrests made during Toronto police holiday RIDE program

Toronto police say 87 arrests were made during the 2020 holiday RIDE program.

There were 65 alcohol-related impaired driving arrests and 22 drug-related impaired driving arrests, police said.

Police also said there were 60 three-day suspensions during the program. In total, 344 holiday RIDE checks were deployed.

Holiday RIDE checks were launched by Toronto police officers on Nov. 21 until Jan. 2 and included community partners such as Arrive Alive Drive Sober, Crime Stoppers, MADD Toronto, Smart Serve Ontario and others.

In last year’s holiday ride program, Toronto police said there were 122 impaired driving related arrests for both alcohol and drugs and 51 three-day suspensions after 305 holiday RIDE program checks were deployed. The program in 2019 began on Nov. 29, eight days after the 2020 program began.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Ontario government had put Toronto in lockdown and urged residents to stay home during the holidays to curb the spread of the virus.

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“Sadly, for every person arrested for impaired driving, there are more that go undetected,” police said in a statement released Tuesday. “Police want everyone to see impaired driving as a crime in progress and to call 911 if they suspect someone is driving impaired.”

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