Drug-impaired driving charges rise sharply: York Region police

Canindia.com
Jan. 5, 2018

The year 2017 has seen a shocking rise in the number of 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.

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.

Meanwhile across Canada, police are raising concerns and bracing for a challenge that could prove to be even harder to spot than alcohol impairment. Sault Ste. Marie's top cop Robert Keetch for example anticipates impaired driving by drugs "is going to be a significant challenge" in the latter half of the new year.

The federal government plans to legalize marijuana on July 1.

Statistics Canada reported 72,039 impaired-driving incidents in 2015. About 4 per cent of those incidents involved drug impairment.

Police also need to know the maximum limit of tetrahydrocannabinol that can be in the blood before a driver is considered impaired. So there needs to be a steep learning curve for police across the country when it comes to understanding how best to get drug impaired drivers off the road.

More police officers will have to get standardized field sobriety test and drug recognition expert training. The instruction can help police identify persons who are under the influence of marijuana.