The Ontario Provincial Police charged 587 drivers with impaired driving during its annual Festive Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) campaign (November 24, 2017 - January 2, 2018).

An additional 366 drivers were issued a Warn Range Suspension and had their driver's licence suspended for having a blood alcohol concentration between .05 and .08.

By comparison, the OPP charged 623 impaired drivers and issued 407 Warn Range Suspensions during the 2016-2017 Festive RIDE campaign.

The OPP remained highly focused on keeping roads safe over the holidays, reflecting on the 44 lives lost in alcohol/drug-related collisions on OPP-patrolled roads in 2017. Officers conducted more than 9,830 RIDE events throughout the province, surpassing the 7,343 RIDE events conducted over the previous season's campaign.

Over the holidays, OPP Drug Recognition Evaluators (DRE) assisted with the tools and expertise to test for and detect drug impairment in drivers. Of the 587 drivers charged, 29 were charged with drug impairment.

While the OPP maintained a heightened focus on impaired drivers during the campaign, officers enforce impaired driving laws around the clock, 365 days a year. In 2017, the OPP charged 4,915 drivers with alcohol-impaired charges and 238 drivers with drug-impaired charges and issued 2,995 Warn Range Suspensions.

The OPP is again reminding the public to call 9-1-1 if you suspect that someone is driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs. In doing so, you could be saving lives.

source: media release, Ontario Provincial Police