OPP starts mandatory alcohol screening at all Waterloo Region traffic stops
Be prepared to provide a breath sample if you’re stopped by OPP on a Waterloo Region highway.
On Thursday, OPP announced officers are now conducting Mandatory Alcohol Screening (MAS) during every traffic stop in the Greater Toronto Area.
The project includes Waterloo Region highways that are patrolled by the OPP’s Cambridge detachment, including Highway 7/8, Highway 85 and Highway 401, Sgt. Kerry Schmidt confirmed.
The OPP is calling the initiative its “toughest measures yet to reduce impaired driving.”
According to the force, impaired driving collisions and charges are up nearly 30 per cent compared to the previous five-year average.
Schmidt says it’s not always obvious when a driver has been drinking
“We've seen impaired drivers with not a lot of … breath smells out in the wind and the weather,” he told CP24.
“Now this takes away any bias, any situations. We're just going to be testing everybody.”
Drivers who refuse could be charged
Under Canada’s MAS law, introduced in 2018, police officers can demand a breath sample from drivers even if they don’t suspect they have drunk alcohol.
Schmidt says drivers that decline to do a breathalyzer test will face consequences.
“They refuse, it’s the same as failing. It’s a criminal offense of refusing to provide a breath sample.”
In Ontario, drivers with the full G license must have less than 0.05% blood alcohol concentration. The warn range is 0.05 to 0.079, with impaired considered 0.08 or more.
There is a zero tolerance policy for any drivers age 21 or under, any drivers with a G1, G2, M1 or M2 license and commercial vehicle operators.
'This is an unjustified power,' says CCLA
Drivers who spoke to CTV News at the Cambridge OnRoute on Thursday had mixed feelings about the new initiative, with some saying it feels like an invasion of privacy.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has similar concerns.
“This is an unjustified power to intrude into someone's life without any suspicion they have done something wrong,” said Shakir Rahim, director of CCLA’s criminal justice program.
Rahim says the CCLA does not believe mandatory alcohol screening will lead to less drunk driving.
He also disagrees with the OPP assertion that screening everyone removes any bias.
“We already know that if you look at who is stopped by the police on the road, disproportionately those individuals come from racialized communities. So the impact of this practice is going to fall most heavily on communities that are already over-policed,” Rahim said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Serial sexual offender linked to unsolved 1970s homicides of four Calgary girls, women
An investigation into unsolved historical homicides from the 1970s has linked the deaths of two girls and two young women in and around Calgary to a now-deceased serial offender.
Woman with liver failure rejected for a transplant after medical review highlights alcohol use
For nearly three months, Amanda Huska has been in an Ontario hospital, part of it on life support, because of severe liver failure. Her history of alcohol use is getting in the way of her only potential treatment: a liver transplant.
A look back on Alberta's record-breaking wildfire season: Preparing for potential challenges in 2024
By the end of the 2023 wildfire season in Alberta, 1,088 wildfires had burned more than 2.2 million hectares of land, and this year, the wildfire season is already in full swing.
BREAKING Craig Berube named as next head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have named Craig Berube as their new head coach.
Video appears to show Sean 'Diddy' Combs beating singer Cassie in hotel hallway in 2016
Security video aired by CNN appears to show Sean 'Diddy' Combs physically assaulting singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
B.C. man 'attacked suddenly' by adult grizzly near Alberta border: RCMP
A B.C. man is recovering from multiple injuries after he was "attacked suddenly" by an adult grizzly bear near Elkford Thursday afternoon.
Australia's richest woman seeks removal of her portrait from exhibition
Art is subjective. And while many artists long to share their work with the world, there's no guarantee that the audience will understand it, or even like it.
Anglers reel in 3.5-metre-long tiger shark off coast of Florida: 'She found my bait'
A group of fishers said it took roughly 20 minutes to reel in this 3.5-metre-long tiger shark off the coast of Florida.
Scottie Scheffler isn't the first pro golfer to be arrested during a tournament
Scottie Scheffler's arrest hours before his second-round tee time at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, will go down as one of the most shocking in professional golf history. It certainly wasn't the first, though.