OPP ramp up Festive RIDE campaign

As the Festive RIDE season is here, Prince Edward OPP Community Service officer Anthony Mann, who is taking over from Const. Kim Guthrie, thank George Storms, of Pure County Bottled Water, who has for the past five years, supplied bottles of water to reward sober drivers at County RIDE spot checks. The bottles of water are sponsored by a dozen local businesses and are noted on the bottles’ label. Officers also handed out bottles of water along the Santa Claus parade routes in Picton and Wellington.

Just a little over a week into the OPP’s Festive R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaign, OPP officers have been busy taking impaired drivers off the roads in an effort to prevent the tragic loss of life during the holidays.

From Nov. 24 to Dec. 2, 151 drivers were pulled over in R.I.D.E. stops and charged with impaired driving and 152 drivers were issued immediate Warn Range driver’s licence suspensions. There have been 35 drinking and driving related charges laid in Prince Edward County this year.

Since the campaign got under way, OPP R.I.D.E. stops have been conducted throughout the province and the OPP is warning drivers that their high visibility will persist in the weeks to come.

“No amount of alcohol is ‘safe’,”  and guaranteed to give you a low breath test reading, says Anthony Mann, Community Services Officer at Picton OPP, taking over from Const. Kim Guthrie. “We will continue to issue Warn Range suspensions to those who register a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) between .05 and .08.”

“We are reminding drivers who are out drinking, that it is far easier to come up with a game plan to get home than to get pulled over in a R.I.D.E. stop, lose their licence and lose possession of their vehicle on the spot,” adds Const. Mann. “The OPP is also asking the public to help keep everyone safe over the holidays by calling 9-1-1 to report impaired drivers.  In doing so, you could be saving lives.”

Members of the public are invited to join the OPP on Facebook to share their views and stories about impaired driving, as well as the OPP’s Festive R.I.D.E. campaign.