Drug-impaired driving charges have spiked 90% since 2015, York Region police say

CityNews.ca and YorkRegion.com
 Jan 3, 2018

York Regional police say 2017 saw a disturbing increase in drug-impaired driving charges.

According to yearly statistics released on Wednesday, impaired-by-drug charges spiked 21 per cent over 2016 numbers, and a whopping 90 per cent since 2015.

York Regional Police Chief Eric Jolliffe called the numbers “incredibly disappointing” and said they should serve as a wake-up call “that something has to change.”

“It’s alarming that prior to the pending legalization of marijuana, we are seeing this spike of drivers impaired by drugs,” Jolliffe said.

“In light of the continued warnings about the dangers of impaired driving from police services across Canada, it’s shocking that anyone feels they have the right to risk the lives of innocent people by drinking alcohol or using drugs and getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.”

Police also released helicopter footage of a suspected drunk driver travelling erratically on Elgin Mills Road, between McCowan Road and Ninth Line, in Markham.

The video shows the vehicle swerving and drifting off the road and into the other lane. Police say the driver was eventually pulled over and blew four times over the legal limit.

A 39-year-old Whitchurch-Stouffville man has been charged with having a blood-alcohol level over 80 milligrams and impaired operation of a motor vehicle.