It is as much of a holiday tradition as putting up the Christmas lights or watching Frosty the Snowman.
West Region OPP, along with police services across southwestern Ontario, kicked off the annual Festive RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaign on Tuesday.
The initiative aims to keep impaired drivers off the road by reminding people celebrating during the holiday season to plan a safe ride home ahead of time.
"We have had 18 fatalities this year where the causal factor was alcohol. That is a quarter of our fatal collisions in West Region this year," said Inspector Mike McConnell, traffic and marine manager with the West Region OPP. "We think it is very important we get the message out that we are going to be out there this season and that's why we have increased our efforts in relation to RIDE checkpoints."
Since the start of 2023, area OPP have conducted 7,170 RIDE checks, 166 per cent more than last year's 3,559.
The Festive RIDE program will run until January 1 with sobriety checkpoints set-up in various locations every day.
"Each detachment in West region is committed to doing at least one RIDE check per shift. So that would be two per day at a minimum," said McConnell. "Festive RIDE is not just an evening or weekend thing. We have had impaired drivers caught in the morning hours, some impaired from the night before trying to drive home. We will be out day and night, every day of the week."
So far this year, OPP have laid over 2,000 impaired driving charges, compared to 1,801 over the same time in 2022. That is an 11 per cent increase year-over-year. Essex County has recorded the highest jump in impaired driving charges this year, up 55 per cent from last year. Elgin County has seen a 34 per cent rise, while in Lambton, Huron, and Middlesex counties the number of charges are up 18, 17, and 14 per cent.
There have been a couple spots that have seen the number of people pulled over for impaired driving fall in 2023. Perth County has recorded zero impaired-related fatalities and a 16 per cent drop in charges. Oxford County has seen a two per cent decrease in people being charged for drunk or high driving, however, there have been two fatal collisions in which impaired driving was listed as a factor.
London police, St. Thomas police, Oneida Nation of the Thames police, Aylmer police, and Strathroy-Caradoc police joined OPP for the launch of the program. Also in attendance was Sara Neusteter, the London chapter president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Neusteter's 54-year-old mother was killed when an impaired driver crashed head-on into her vehicle in 2014.
"My mom was innocent, she did not deserve to die the way that she did... Her and I were driving home. We had gotten some ice cream from McDonalds. It was the first official day of summer in 2014, we were making plans to have family functions throughout the year and continue making memories and the next thing you know she is lying beside me dead," said Neusteter.
She is urging anyone who may think about driving after having a few drinks or taking drugs to reconsider.
"I didn't have a chance to say 'I love you' one last time to my mom. I have two daughters now who weren't able to meet their grandma. All of the special moments my family was robbed of could have been prevented," said Neusteter. "If people take anything home from this message it is to please don't put another family through this."