Provincial police will be utilizing new impaired driving laws and new roadside screening equipment to keep impaired drivers off the road during this year's seasonal campaign.
The Ontario Provincial Police kicks off its Festive RIDE campaign this weekend, which will target alcohol and drug-impaired drivers.
The OPP is heading into this year's campaign with newly implemented laws that will allow police officers to demand a breath sample during a traffic stop without having reasonable suspicion that the driver has alcohol in their body. As well, the OPP will now be utilizing approved drug screening equipment that can detect cannabis and cocaine in a driver's saliva. The equipment will also help officers enforce the provincial zero-tolerance sanctions that apply to young, novice and commercial drivers who are suspected of having the presence of drugs in their bodies.
"Whether a driver is impaired by alcohol, drugs or both, impaired is impaired - any time of year. Our frontline officers have never been more prepared than they are now to remove these dangerous drivers from our roads," said Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Thomas Carrique in a media release.
The OPP added that during the Festive RIDE campaign between November 23, 2019 to January 2, 2020, officers will also be strictly enforcing the laws that address the transportation of cannabis in motor vehicles.
In the past 10 years, close to 600 people have died on OPP-patrolled roads in collisions that involved an alcohol or drug-impaired driver.
