MADD, OPP warn of the dangers of driving the morning after night of drinking

MADD Canada and Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are reminding drivers that “sleeping it off” can’t prevent tragedy when it comes to drunk driving.

“The young man that killed my mom did it at seven o’clock in the morning. He had been out partying the night before, and then he was driving at seven o’clock in the morning on a Tuesday,” said Tanya Hansen Pratt, the National President of MADD Canada.

Pratt said the only thing that can truly rid your system of alcohol is time.

“So for every serving of alcohol that a person has had, it takes one to two hours for that alcohol to work through their system … that’s going to build up if you’re drinking throughout the night, and we see that type of drinking especially this time of year when people are celebrating.”

OPP and local police services across the province are in the midst of their festive RIDE campaigns, which began in mid-November.

So far, for the OPP, a total of 943 impaired driving charges have been laid against people operating a vehicle due to alcohol or drug impairment.

Another 114 were taken off the road due to warn range suspension when a driver’s blood alcohol is in the “warn range” of 0.05 to 0.08.

OPP constable Taylor Konkle said he’s seen plenty of DUIs in the morning hours.

“So they’ll drink until one or two o’clock in the morning. They’ll sleep for a couple of hours. They’ll go out and drive early in the morning. And with my experience, we see a lot of people crash their cars … They’re a little bit sleep deprived, and they have alcohol in their system,” said Const. Konkle.

He suggests waiting 24 hours after heavy drinking before operating a motor vehicle.

“If you’re arrested for impaired driving, either that be by alcohol or drugs at the station, you are automatically given a 90-day license suspension,” explained Konkle. “Your car is impounded for seven days … And then you are given a criminal charge.”

However, the consequences are even more severe for the victims of impaired driving.

“I didn’t wake up one day thinking my mom would be dead because of an impaired driver, but it happened to us, and it could happen to anyone. So just make that simple decision to not get behind the wheel impaired by alcohol or drugs of any kind,” shared Pratt.