National Impaired Driving Prevention Week is the third week of March each year. On Feb. 7, 2021, the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) posted on Twitter that “…a third of our impaired driving charges are the result of members of our community making the call.” Other charges result from R.I.D.E. program spot checks; Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (R.I.D.E.) is a year-round program of roadside spot-checks (sobriety testing) in Ontario that began in 1977 and continues today.
Below are five local examples of impaired driving charges from just a nine-day period (March 2–10), taken from the Halton Regional Police community notification reports for March; many thanks to the HRPS for offering these updates to the community.
All suspects named are from Burlington, unless otherwise noted. Remember: all persons charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
On March 10, during a R.I.D.E. program spot check in the area of Plains Road East and Downsview Drive, Nicholas Risewick was charged with operation of a motor vehicle while impaired and driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 80 mg or more.
On March 5, as a result of a traffic stop in the area of Sandford Drive and Plains Road, Shane Condren was charged with driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 80 mg or more.
On March 3, during a R.I.D.E. program spot check in the area of Plains Road West and Grandview Avenue, Rebecca Beveridge was charged with driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 80 mg or more.
On March 2, HRPS responded to a complaint in the area of Guelph Line and New Street. As a result, Alannah Walker of St. Catharines was charged with operation of a motor vehicle while impaired and driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 80 mg or more.
On March 2, HRPS responded to a collision in the area of Brock Avenue and Elgin Street. As a result, Agata Barnat was charged with operation of a motor vehicle while impaired and driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 80 mg or more.
These items are only some of the occurrences described in the e-updates. The notifications include Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, and Oakville occurrences. If you are interested in regular updates, you can subscribe to Community Notifications from HRPS at https://www.haltonpolice.ca/en/news-and-updates/community-notifications.aspx.
Support is available for victims of impaired driving and their families. The Canadian arm of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD Canada) is a volunteer-driven registered charitable organization, committed to stopping impaired driving and supporting the victims of this crime. Founded in Canada in 1989, MADD is still highly relevant today, as “an average of 4 Canadians are killed and 175 are injured on a daily basis due to impaired driving.” Both MADD’s national office and the Halton Region chapter of MADD are located in Oakville. Their contact information (from https://madd.ca/) is as follows: call 1-800-665-6233 or 905-829-8805, or email them at info@madd.ca. For the Halton Region chapter, email: info@maddhalton.org.
