Niagara Regional Police officers were out looking for impaired drivers yesterday with many celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.
Officers stopped 1000 vehicles in St. Catharines and Thorold in a RIDE spot check.
In total, 18 drivers were required to provide a sample of their breath for analysis.
Just before 7 p.m. officers in Thorold stopped a truck after it did a U-turn to avoid the RIDE program.
A 24-year-old St. Catharines resident was arrested and charged with impaired driving.
Just before 10:30 p.m, officers stopped a minivan, and the driver appeared impaired.
When the driver was directed to exit the vehicle, an open beer can fell from the vehicle onto the ground.
The driver was arrested and charged.
Additionally, of the 18 drivers who were directed to provide a sample of their breath for analysis, 4 drivers were determined to be in the “Alert” range, meaning their blood alcohol concentration was between 50 milligrams of alcohol and 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood.
All 4 drivers had their drivers licences suspended for 3 days.