Impaired driving charges in Thunder Bay continue to climb: police

Despite educational and enforcement efforts — and naming offenders —  the number of impaired driving charges laid by Thunder Bay police continues to grow.

As of Monday morning, more than 280 people had been charged with impaired driving in Thunder Bay in 2020; 14 charges were laid last week alone, said Thunder Bay police traffic Const. Mark Cattani.

"It was only maybe even a decade ago that … 120, 130 was an average year for how many impaired drivers we got off the road," Cattani said. "Now each year we're adding on a significant amount."

In 2019, police charged 204 people with impaired driving, which itself was a record. To be pushing 300 charges less than two weeks left in 2020 is "absurd," Catanni said.

"It's an achievement in a sense that we can be proud that our training and investments are paying off," he said. "But it's not an achievement from a societal standpoint."

Cattani said about one-third of the recent arrests have come through Festive RIDE stops in the city. Others have come from concerned residents who call 911 after seeing a suspected impaired driver on the roads.

The remainder of the charges is due to police officers encountering impaired drivers while patrolling.

Thunder Bay police are trying something new this holiday season with the publishing of the names of everyone charged with impaired driving on their website, but Cattani said it's too early to tell what effect that is having on the numbers.

Cattani is hopeful the upcoming Ontario-wide lockdown — which begins on Boxing Day and is part of efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 — will result in the numbers dropping.

"It's going to be interesting, seeing as the first lockdown effectively shut everything down, there was no traffic on the road," he said. "That did impact impaired numbers. March and April, we saw a significant drop in the amount of impaired drivers that we were getting off the road. So that's a good thing."

"Will that translate over to the Christmas and New Year's season where people, despite there being no businesses open, are likely still inclined to go and socialize? I think we might see a decrease," Cattani said. "I'd like to think that's going to happen. Only time will tell."