A roadside check for impaired drivers can pop up anywhere, any time, any day of the year.
Festive RIDE has launched for the holidays, so expect to encounter more of them.
Traffic section Sergeant Tom Chypyha from Timmins Police says the focus used to be on Friday and Saturday nights, when there are a lot of parties and family get-togethers.
“Now it won’t be uncommon to find a RIDE unit out on a Sunday afternoon, early afternoons, early evenings,” Chypyha notes. RIDE units – which also check for driving impaired by drugs – can float around from one area to another, depending on traffic volume. He calls it “rolling RIDE”.
Chypyha explains that officers consider themselves a deterrent to the potentially deadly practice.
“Just make alternate arrangements,” he reminds us. “The end of the day, we don’t want to see anybody arrested or charged, but that’s part of our job, right?”
The same goes for snowmobile trails. Officers patrol them, and Chypyha says if you call 9-1-1 on seeing an impaired sledder, an officer will be dispatched.