Saturday, April 26, 2025

As New Year’s Eve celebrations begin in earnest this evening, the Hamilton Police Service wants to remind you to plan a safe way to get home tonight. They’re setting up RIDE lanes across the city, hoping to discourage drinking and driving.

Hamilton police Chief Glenn De Caire was at one of those locations in Hamilton’s east end.

The ‘don’t drink and drive’ message has been around for years now. Why do you think people take a chance on something that could end their life?

“That’s an important question we ask ourselves every day. We see the number of people that are getting arrested in our city for impaired driving. Unfortunately this year, we are about 45 more arrests higher than we were at the same time last year. And that is 100% preventable. And we want 100% compliance with people to not drink and drive, especially this evening.”

What are the penalties for being caught drinking and driving?

“The penalties upon arrest can vary from a suspended license if the drive blows a ‘warn’ or up to 80ml. After that, a criminal code charge is laid for Impaired Driving’ or ‘Drive over 80ml’ and that means that an individual can be fined, they can spend time in jail and they can lose their license for a considerable amount of time.”

What’s the message that you want people to take away from tonight?

“Plan ahead. Make sure you have a designated driver. Arrange for a taxi cab if you have to. Or stay at the location. But to anyone who is drinking, please do not get behind the wheel of a car and drive. Our officers will be out across the city, throughout the entire night. We’ve been at it since 11 o’clock this morning. We did 13 ride locations yesterday and arrested two impaired drivers. So, the message to everybody is: Be safe, be responsible and please do not drink and drive.”