Impaired driving arrests increased in Greater Sudbury and northeastern Ontario in 2023

Police in Greater Sudbury saw a slight uptick in the number of people arrested for impaired driving last year.

286 drivers were arrested in 2023 for impairment, including 68 for being under the influence of drugs.

The number of arrests was an increase from 260 in 2022, however, the number of drug-related impairments was down from 80.

Sergeant Blair Ramsay with Greater Sudbury Police Service's Traffic Management Unit, said the numbers for Sudbury have been consistent over the past few years.

"It's not great that it isn't going down, which is what we like to see."

He added that of the 286 people arrested, 54 were involved in collisions, including one fatal collision.

"There's no excuse for impaired driving. It just creates such a dangerous situation on our roads."

Ramsay said the police force did increase the number of RIDE checks conducted last year, and despite the number of impaired arrests, he said he was pleased to see many people using rideshare services during the holidays.

"During our ride spot checks, we saw a very big increase this year in people using U-Ride and also an increase in the use of Safe Ride Home," he explained.

"People that we're seeing coming through our spot checks seem to be getting it, [there's] a lot of designated drivers which is great. But there's still close to 300 people that aren't getting the message."

Ramsay said Greater Sudbury Police are planning to continue increasing enforcement and educational campaigns in 2024 as a way of deterring people from driving impaired.

Impaired numbers up across the northeast region and the province

The number of impaired driving charges also increased last year in northeastern Ontario, according to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

Between January 1 and November 30, 2023, there were 589 incidents of impaired driving across the northeast region. That is an increase of 14 per cent over the previous year.

During that time period, police laid 979 charges for impaired driving, which was an increase of 16 per cent from 2022.

There was also a 10 per cent increase in the number of impaired-related collisions in 2023.

"It is trending upwards," said OPP Constable Kyler Brouwer, who is a Community Safety Officer at the James Bay detachment.

"You can see from just the charges alone, it's up 16 per cent from last year and up 20 per cent in general over the last five years."

Brouwer said most impairment is still a result of drinking as opposed to drugs.

He added that police increased the number of RIDE events last year across the northeast region by 452 to try and catch those driving under the influence.

He said the RIDE programs have led to more charges being laid and more roadside license suspensions.

"Most of the roadside suspensions came from doing these RIDE programs and quite a few of the actual impaired charges, they came from RIDE programs as well," said Brouwer.

"So those are impaired drivers that were caught and charged that we wouldn't have gotten without this festive ride campaign."

Overall in 2023, OPP revealed they laid more than 11,000 impaired driving charges throughout Ontario.