NEWS RELEASE
YORK REGIONAL POLICE SERVICE
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York Regional Police is urging our citizens to partner with us in the Safe Roads: Your Call campaign to stop impaired drivers by calling 911 this long-weekend.
Our service has made consistent and ongoing efforts to prevent impaired driving on our roads through enforcement and education, but the greatest impact in improving road safety comes from the partnership of our citizens and road users in York Region.
Safe Roads: Your Call encourages citizens to call 911 if they suspect an impaired driver. We consider these incidents a life-threatening crime in progress and will continue to respond to these calls. More than 3,500 people call 9-1-1 to report impaired driving each year.
These calls may have prevented serious collisions from occurring and have also led to thousands of impaired-related criminal charges being laid over the years.
These 911 calls have come in to us from many different sources, from others motorists, pedestrians, drive-thru employees, gas station attendants, liquor store employees, neighbours, family and friends calling in to prevent potentially devastating situations. These calls save lives.
This video is one example of a concerned citizen who called 911 after witnessing a young child driving a vehicle.
The caller pulled up beside the vehicle and spoke to the child, asking how old he was. The vehicle then pulled over and the father switched places with the child and began driving.
Officers successfully located and stopped the vehicle, finding that the father was impaired by drugs and had instructed his 12-year-old son to drive the vehicle.
York Regional Police wants to dedicate this long weekend enforcement campaign to all of our upstanding citizens who took the time to call 911 to report a suspected impaired driver, making our roads and our community safer.
It should also be made clear to all those who choose to drive while impaired by drugs or alcohol that it is not only police officers who are watching for impaired drivers; our citizens also refuse to tolerate this behaviour. Impaired drivers should expect to be caught and charged.
Together, we can work to make our roads and communities safer. For more information, please contact the York Regional Police Road Safety Bureau at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7703 or contact Corporate Communications at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 2664.
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