Ottawa police have unveiled a unique strategy for their annual holiday season RIDE campaign by pre-announcing the locations of sobriety checkpoints to drivers. Beginning this Thursday, the police will disclose the general area of each night’s impaired driving checkpoint on social media before setting it up. Sgt. Amy Gagnon emphasized the aim is to provide motorists with information to make informed decisions prior to driving.
For instance, on Thursday, the RIDE checkpoint will be positioned in the Riverside/Vanier vicinity. Gagnon stressed the intention is to deter impaired driving proactively rather than making arrests, emphasizing the primary goal of ensuring road safety through a novel approach. She questioned the rationale behind driving impaired when individuals are aware of the checkpoint locations in advance.
In contrast, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) expressed a different viewpoint, opting not to disclose their checkpoint locations in advance to prevent circumvention by intoxicated drivers. Bill Dickson from the OPP acknowledged the varying strategies between the two police services but emphasized the shared objective of removing impaired drivers from the roads, regardless of the approach taken.
Dickson highlighted concerns that if checkpoints are publicized beforehand, individuals may attempt to evade detection, emphasizing the importance of maintaining unpredictability in checkpoint placements. He underscored the core aim of ensuring road safety by deterring and apprehending impaired drivers effectively.
Both Dickson and Gagnon acknowledged the role of navigation apps like Google Maps and Waze in alerting drivers to police presence, suggesting that revealing general checkpoint locations may not significantly impact avoidance. Steve Sullivan, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the rapid dissemination of checkpoint information via social media regardless of official disclosures.
Sullivan emphasized the effectiveness of highly visible and well-publicized RIDE campaigns in deterring impaired driving, predicting that the outcomes of Ottawa’s strategy would be insightful for other law enforcement agencies. Notably, Ottawa police have recorded 733 impaired driving charges this year, with a notable uptick from the previous year. Nearly half of these charges stemmed from 911 calls, with a fraction resulting in fatal or severe injury collisions.
Similarly, OPP in eastern Ontario have reported over 1,900 impaired driving charges and 11 fatal collisions related to impaired driving this year. Since 2018, Canadian police have had the authority to demand breath samples at traffic stops and checkpoints without suspicion of alcohol consumption.