All month, police forces across Ontario have been releasing the results of their Festive RIDE programs.
The OPP alone arrested nearly 1,300 people for impaired driving during the month of December. Add in local police services throughout the province, and the number of charges is hundreds more.
“Doesn't surprise me, never fails to disappoint me,” says Steve Sullivan, the CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada, during a recent interview on our Closer Look podcast.
“Especially during the holidays — with all the awareness that law enforcement are going to be out there and very active with RIDE programs and proactively looking for drivers — it's disappointing that so many people make that choice.”
Why do so many drivers still make that choice? Sullivan says MADD has done its own polling on that question, and the results are eyeopening.
“We ask people: ‘Why would you do that?’” he told the podcast. “They often say they didn't have far to go, or they thought they could go on a back road. They wouldn't see a police officer, and they could just drive a little more carefully. Obviously, none of those are good excuses, but no one ever thinks they're going to get into a crash. No one ever thinks they're going to hurt someone else — or hurt themselves or kill themselves.”
You can watch the full podcast episode HERE.
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