Nearly 950 impaired driving charges laid as part of OPP's Festive RIDE campaign

OPP officers from West Region conduct checks for impaired driving as part of their Festive R.I.D.E campaign on Nov. 17, 2022. (Jenn Basa/CTV News London)

Ontario Provincial Police say they’ve laid close to 950 impaired driving charges since the start of their Festive RIDE campaign.

Officers have been performing the proactive spot checks on roads across the province to curb drunk driving since Nov. 21.

In that time, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the force has issued 947 charges to drivers whose blood alcohol level was 0.08 or higher.

Another 114 people were taken off the road for registering what’s known as a “warn” range suspension (a blood alcohol concentration between 0.05 and 0.079).

“The OPP will continue to do RIDE checks, all across the province, morning, noon, and night,” Schmidt said in a video posted to X on Tuesday. “It’s simple: if you drink, don’t drive. If you plan on driving, don’t drink.”

The Festive RIDE program runs until New Year’s Day.