Festive RIDE program kicks off in Thunder Bay, northwestern Ontario

Police across northwestern Ontario have officially kicked off the annual Festive RIDE program, an effort to keep impaired drivers off the road during the holiday season.

"Fortunately this year we have seen a reduction in our impaired driving numbers compared to this time last year," Thunder Bay police Acting Traffic Sgt. Sal Carchidi said during the Festive RIDE launch on Tuesday. "Last year, we were hovering around 221 impaired drivers were going into our Festive RIDEprogram. This year we're down to 173, with 67 of those being impaired by drug, so still a significant number."

"So still disappointing numbers," he said. "Too many impaired drivers, but it's been a significant reduction for us in Thunder Bay."

Carchidi said he believes police visibility and messaging around the dangers of impaired driving played a role in the drop.

And police will be even more visible as they enforce impaired driving laws over the coming weeks.

"You're going to see elevated presence through December, especially around the holidays," he said. "Impaired driving, related collisions, impaired arrests, nobody wants that for their families."

"It's a life-changing event to get arrested for impaired driving. Your vehicle is impounded for seven days. Your license is suspended for 90 days."

"We don't want that to happen to anyone. We don't want to see any injuries on our local roadways."

Carchidi said although there's one less optionfor safe rides home this year due to the cancellationof Project Red Nose, there are still plenty of ways for people to get home after having a few drinks.

"There's still public transit, there's still ... the ride-sharing apps or the designated driver program," he said. "That's all we had through the years. Plan adesignated driver."

"It's that one day that you're not consuming alcohol," Carchidi said. "Have pop, have water, there's other alternatives to have that one person as your designated driver."

And while Thunder Bay has seen a drop in impaired driving charges this year, the same can't be said for the region

OPP ProvincialConst. Marc Nielsen said numbers in the Thunder Bay district, as well as across the North West Region, are up.

"Within Thunder Bay, we've had 78 impaired driving charges [in 2022]as opposed to 68 from the previous year," he said Tuesday. "Within the Northwest region, it's up to 815, as opposed to the previous year at 577."

Nielsen said the OPP has more officers available now, and can be more proactive when it comes to impaired drivers.

"We're hoping that with an increased presence across the region here, we can limit those numbers, and bring them down," he said.