OPP Festive RIDE campaign begins next week

(LONDON, ON) - West Region OPP officers are joining forces with their municipal policing counterparts to combat impaired driving this holiday season, as the annual Festive RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaign rolls out across southwestern Ontario.

This police enforcement and education initiative is aimed at taking impaired drivers off Ontario roads during the holiday season. This year's Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Festive RIDE campaign runs from Nov. 21, 2024, to Jan. 1, 2025.

Drivers can expect a heightened OPP presence on West Region roads and highways, in addition to the highly visible and dedicated efforts made by our municipal policing partners, as officers conduct RIDE checks 24 hours a day, seven days a week, throughout the province.

The Festive RIDE campaign closes out enhanced West Region OPP efforts to combat impaired driving this year. To date in 2024, West Region members have conducted 10,170 RIDE check events in all 13 detachment areas, compared to 8,487 RIDE check events in 2023 (20-per-cent increase). 

So far in 2024, 10 people have lost their lives in alcohol/drug-related collisions in West Region, compared to 24 deaths in 2023, (58-per-cent decrease). West Region members have laid more than 2,384 impaired-driving charges to date in 2024, compared to 2,369 charges over the same time frame in 2023 (one-per-cent increase).

A chart showing detachment-specific impaired-driving statistics is below.



The OPP remains committed to ensuring Ontario roads are safe from drug-impaired and alcohol-impaired drivers. Ontario citizens are reminded to do their part during the campaign by never driving after consuming alcohol or drugs and never letting anyone else drive if you know or suspect that they have consumed either.  Drivers are reminded that no amount of alcohol or drugs in your system is safe when driving.

If you suspect an impaired driver, make that life-saving call and dial 911.

For more information concerning the consequences and penalties of impaired driving, visit www.ontario.ca/page/impaired-driving.