Southwest OPP say impaired and distracted driving charges went up in 2023

Ontario Provincial Police say they charged far more people in the West Region with impaired and distracted driving in 2023 than they did in 2022, with fewer people dying as a result of motor vehicle collisions caused by those factors.

Police charged 63 people with distracted driving in Essex County alone between Jan. 1 and Dec. 12, compared to the 21 people charged in 2022.

Elgin county numbers stayed relatively consistent, rising from 34 to 36.

Officers also charged 322 people in Essex County with impaired driving during the same 2023 period. That's 51 per cent more than the 213 charged in 2022.

In Elgin County, meanwhile, OPP charged 148 people with impaired driving, up 35 per cent from 110 last year.

Increased enforcement 

The increase in charges comes after a troubling number of deaths due to the "big four" — speeding, impaired driving, distracted driving and failure to wear seat-belts — prompted OPP to step up enforcement in 2023, said Mike McConnell, the force's inspector of traffic safety and marine for the West Region.

RIDE checks were up 50 per cent in Essex County and 70 per cent in the west region overall, McConnell said. Police also put more resources into catching speeders, distracted drivers, and people who weren't wearing seatbelts. 

Impaired driving charges were up nearly 13 per cent across the OPP's west region — which includes southwestern Ontario south of the GTA, and up to Tobermory —  according to data provided by the force.

McConnell said he couldn't explain why the Essex County numbers were higher than regional averages, but that enforcement was likely the key factor.

"The more that we're out there, the more that we're going to get," he said. 

"But I don't think the fact that it's a little bit higher than some of the other counties ... is speaking to anything specific happening in Essex other than some good enforcement numbers and some good RIDE check numbers."

Fatal collisions dropped 18 per cent in the west region, from 104 in 2022 to 85 between Jan.1 and Dec. 12, 2023, bucking a provincial trend that saw them increase by 10 per cent.  

Deaths from collisions where alcohol and drugs were a factor dropped 33 per cent, and deaths from collisions caused by distracted driving dropped by 52 per cent. 

Despite the drop in deaths, the community leader for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Windsor and Essex County said he's still alarmed by the number of people caught driving while drunk or high.

"People continue to disobey the law and make that, you know, devastating choice to drive impaired," Chaouki Hamka said.

"When you talk about, you know, [322] — whatever that number was that were caught — that's [322] people that were impaired on our roads that could have potentially killed someone, injured someone, including themselves," he said. 
"So that's concerning, you know, when you hear those kinds of numbers."

Asked if OPP plans to increase enforcement again in 2024, McConnell told CBC, "We always put a focus on traffic enforcement within West Region, and that will be a focus moving forward."