Durham Regional Police charged 85 people with impaired driving offences during the 2025 holiday RIDE campaign, a decrease from 105 arrests recorded during the same initiative in 2024.
The six-week enforcement campaign ran from November 15, 2025, to January 1, 2026, during which officers conducted surprise roadside checks across Durham Region. Police stopped 12,465 vehicles and administered 591 roadside breath tests.
Of those stopped, 53 drivers received three-day licence suspensions after registering a warning-range breath sample, while 13 novice drivers had their licences suspended for consuming alcohol or drugs.
Despite the reduction in arrests, police say some trends remain concerning. When measured against the total number of vehicles stopped, the impaired driving arrest rate increased slightly to 0.69 per cent, compared to 0.65 per cent in 2024.
When criminal charges and administrative licence suspensions are combined, just over one per cent of drivers stopped during the campaign either faced criminal charges or lost their driving privileges, according to police.
“When you break it down, just over one in every 100 drivers we stopped was impaired or had consumed enough alcohol to face suspension,” said Sgt. Greg Carroll, leader of the RIDE program. “That may sound like a small number, but in a region of more than 780,000 residents — and with thousands more travelling through Durham every day — each impaired driver puts lives at risk.”
Police laid a total of 119 impaired driving-related charges against the 85 accused. Officers also issued 62 additional Criminal Code charges, 945 Highway Traffic Act tickets, 11 drug-related charges, and 20 charges under the Cannabis Act.
Durham police emphasized that impaired driving is entirely preventable and urged drivers to make safe transportation choices.
Photo Credits : https://www.durhamregion.com/news/crime/durham-cops-ride-worrying-trends/article_a64bd5fe-85b0-5da1-af1a-0b4d096a1670.html
