Disturbing statistics came out of this past weekend regarding impaired driving and Barrie police are hoping more people will take the life-altering decision more seriously.
In the span of just over three hours this past weekend, Barrie police officers responded to, and laid charges, in three separate motor vehicle collisions in the city where each crash involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
Peter Leon, of the Barrie police communications department, told BarrieToday that those numbers are discouraging, but thankfully the situations could have been worse.
“Given the choices or options that are available, this is, in fact, very disappointing,” said Leon. “Each one of these collisions was preventable if the driver had taken the time to plan ahead and make the right choice.
"Instead, their actions could have seriously injured someone or even worse taken a life.”
The Barrie R.I.D.E. program began Nov. 16 and Leon says that, while we usually hear about the poor decisions made by impaired drivers, he's confident many people are listening, making impaired driving a very socially unacceptable thing to do.
“We are very fortunate that we have great community partners who help the Barrie police spread the message that impaired driving is not only wrong and against the law, but is something that is socially unacceptable,” said Leon.
“Obviously, after all the years of police providing messaging on the impact that impaired driving has on society as a whole, the majority seem to hear the message, but there still are some who have not and will sadly only realize it after they have been arrested, charged and held accountable for their actions," he added.
