By: Dan Jones CFWN-Northumberland 89.7 News, Local Journalism Initiative.

Cobourg is seeing a concerning trend in drunk driving. Over the past three years, arrests related to impaired driving have steadily gone up.

Statistics released by the Cobourg Police Service, suggest the rates for DUI’s in 2022 were 13, in 2023 16 and already in 2024 19.

Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf, who recently addressed a Cobourg Police Services Board meeting said while these rates are concerning, the severity of blood-alcohol levels is also up.

“Impaired driving, we’ve noticed, is increasing. The impaired charges already surpassed last year,” VandeGraaf said. “Alarmingly, the blood-alcohol levels of the more recent impaired’s are well above the legal limit. Not only are we seeing an increase in the quantity, we’re also seeing an increase in the severity of impaired driving.” 

With the festive season fast approaching, police are expecting to launch their annual Christmas impaired driving awareness program. This year, Cobourg Police is partnering with the YMCA for Operation “Red Nose,” expected to start next week.

“As we look forward to launching the festive R.I.D.E Program across Ontario, we will look into our impaired stats. They look to be trending up slightly and we will have to address that in 2025,” explained VandeGraaf. “We’ll continue to play our role in reducing impaired driving through our R.I.D.E. checks. We’re gearing up for our education awareness campaign that happens over the festive holiday season. We’re going to support Operation ‘Red Nose’ through the YMCA.”

The Ontario Provincial Police have already begun enforcement of their festive impaired driving campaign, which will conclude January 1. OPP said the public can expect to see an increased officer presence conducting R.I.D.E checks. Impaired driving remains the largest contributor to collisions in Ontario. It is recommended that if you plan on drinking or consuming cannabis products to stay overnight or arrange alternate transportation.