Several organizations and community members are working to keep roads in Sudbury safe this holiday season.
These initiatives include providing free shuttle service at bars, volunteering with Operation Red Nose, performing police spot checks of drivers and providing free city bus rides.
Those celebrating the new year with alcohol should keep in mind the penalties for drinking and driving, stated a press release from Greater Sudbury Police.
A driver can lose their licence, have an ignition interlock device installed on their vehicle, or be in an accident that, at the least, damages their vehicle, and at the worst, costs lives.
City transit will provide free bus transportation on New Year's eve, into the early morning hours of New Year's day. The bus rides are available between 10 p.m. Dec. 31, and 3 a.m. Jan. 1.
Several local bars provide a free shuttle service to their customers to keep them off the road after a night of drinking, and Operation Red Nose provides a free service that will drive a person and their vehicle home, no charge. Donations are accepted, and help the organization continue to offer the service.
Taxi services are available throughout the city, and people who are going out to drink should think ahead and arrange for transportation if they aren't able to use the other services.
Police RIDE checks happen nightly throughout the Christmas-New Year holiday season, and randomly throughout the rest of the year.
Greater Sudbury Police conducted checks in Walden, Valley East and Sudbury, in the evening hours of Dec. 29.
This RIDE check stopped 421 vehicles, and resulted in 14 highway traffic act charges as well as one charge of driving without insurance. One person was suspected of impaired driving and was required to give a roadside breath test, which tests the amount of alcohol in a person's blood.
When a driver provides a roadside blood alcohol test, they will fall into one of three categories: pass, warn, or fail. Only pass results provide an exact reading, as drivers with G1 and G2 licences are required to have 0 blood alcohol.
Drivers who rate a warn rating have a blood alcohol rating between .05 and .08, and will face licence suspensions. The first time a person rates a warn, they lose their licence for three days. A second warn earns a seven day suspension, and a third a 30-day suspension.
If a driver rates a fail, they are taken by police to the station and will be required to take a more detailed test that will provide an accurate blood level rating. They will face impaired driving charges, which results in a 90-day licence suspension.
People who rate a warn range three times in five years, or who are convicted of impaired driving, are required to have an ignition interlock device installed on their vehicle, anywhere from one year to an indefinite sentence, according to the Ministry of Transportation website (MTO).
An ignition interlock device requires a driver to provide a breath sample before the ignition will unlock, allowing the vehicle to be started.
Those who are required to have an interlock device and are found driving without one will face a fine anywhere between $200-$1,000 for general vehicles, and $200-$20,000 for commercial vehicles.
The driver of the vehicle is required to pay the cost of installation and maintenance for the ignition interlock.
