We are less than two weeks into the new year and Waterloo Region Police say that more than a dozen people have already been caught drunk driving on area roads.
“Sadly, between January 1-9, we arrested 15 persons for impaired driving and laid 27 charges related to those arrests,” Staff Sgt. Scott Griffiths told Global News in an email.
He said that this number is trending upward from where things stood a year ago.
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“Looking at the same time in 2022 we had 12 people arrested for impaired driving in the same period with 21 charges laid,” Griffiths noted.
He said that a return to normalcy following the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in driving offences.
“The resumption of post-COVID activities has brought increases in our yearly impaired driving statistics overall,” the head of Waterloo police’s traffic services unit explained.
“In December alone we laid 105 charges for impaired driving related offences — 78 per cent more than in 2021.”
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Griffiths said that the Waterloo service is concerned about the increase in inebriated drivers on local roads and would like to see members of the public act more responsibly.
“The messaging to drivers remains the same — please plan ahead — if you plan to drink or use drugs take public transit, a cab, ride-sharing etc and those same options are available to you should you unexpectedly find yourself in the position of having consumed those while out,” he said.
“We also encourage anyone who believes they see an impaired driver to contact police. “
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