THUNDER BAY - The annual Festive RIDE program held in the city of Thunder Bay and surrounding region continues to see a high number of impaired drivers charged, and law enforcement officials say this is likely only scratching the surface.
“Our numbers from our Festive RIDE Program from 2022 are disappointing to say the least,” said Acting Sgt. Sal Carchidi with the Thunder Bay Police Service Traffic Unit.
This year, the Thunder Bay Police Service arrested 31 drivers impaired by either alcohol or drugs throughout the 31-day Festive Ride Program. This is up slightly from last year, which saw 29 people arrested.
All drivers arrested were subject to a seven-day vehicle impoundment and a 90-day licence suspension.
According to Carchidi, the total number of impaired drivers in 2022 was down from 2021 and 2020, which he believes shows that some drivers are getting the message around the dangers of getting behind the wheel when intoxicated.
“The downside to that is we know we are only scratching the surface with our impaired driving arrests. There are a lot of drivers going undetected and still driving while impaired,” Carchidi said.
“So I don’t think those numbers are necessarily a true account of the account of impaired drivers in Thunder Bay, but it is the amount of impaired drivers being taken off the road, which during the holiday season is way too many.”
Throughout the Festive RIDE program, between four and eight officers were conducting stationary and mobile ride screening throughout the city.
“In a perfect world we could have 10 officers doing impaired driving enforcement 24 hours a day and our numbers would be through the roof,” Carchidi said, adding that the officers conducting traffic enforcement are highly skilled at detecting motorists driving under the influence.
“We do have significantly higher number of drug impaired arrests compared to the rest of the province and I think that goes to our officer’s detection skills and their investigative ability.”
But the city continues to outpace the provincial average when it comes to the number of impaired drivers on the road.
In 2021, the provincial average of impaired driving arrests was 111 per 100,000 people. In Thunder Bay, the number was 180 arrests per 100,000.
In the Thunder Bay District, the Ontario Provincial Police reported a similarly high number of impaired driving charges.
Provincial Const. Marc Nielson with the OPP said between Nov. 17, 2022 and Jan. 2, 2022, officers with the Thunder Bay, Armstrong, and Shabaqua OPP detachments performed 333 RIDE checks and interacted with 5,700 drivers.
As a result, 36 motorists were charged with impaired driving.
“The amount of impaired is a concerning number,” Nielson said. “It is an increase over the last two seasons, which I would say is contributed from COVID, the opportunity to have more interactions with drivers and more people out in the public over the last two years.”
Nielson added that he also believes this is likely only scratching the surface in terms of how many impaired drivers could be on district highways and roadways.
“The more officers we can get out patrolling and proactively doing ride checks and interacting with people, we should be able to mitigate those numbers,” he said.
Fortunately, in both the city of Thunder Bay and the surrounding district, no collisions causing serious bodily injury were reported during the Festive RIDE program this year. But Nielson is reminding drivers that taking to the highway after drinking or consuming drugs is a dangerous risk to take.
“When you get up to highway speeds in weather conditions we are currently dealing with in wintertime, reaction time, stopping time of your vehicle is a lot longer,” he said. “Driving impaired by drugs or alcohol, you perhaps believe your ability is increased, but it’s actually a lot slower thank you think.”
And even though the Festive RIDE program has wrapped up, that does not mean impaired driving enforcement will be easing on city and area roads.
“You will still continue to see ride programs at any given day or time. It is not just during that period of time where you would see the Festive RIDE,” Nielson said. “RIDE checks happen all the time. Whether it be a Monday morning or Friday night. Don’t be surprised to see more officers out there in a preventative manner.”
