The community leader for MADD Windsor & Essex County says he's concerned by news that impaired driving numbers continue to rise in Ontario.
Earlier this week the Ontario Provincial Police's Highway Safety Division took to social media to say that impaired driving occurrences have been increasing over the years, from over 5100 in 2018, to over 6300 in 2022.
They say the numbers are still climbing in 2023, and they're tracking to surpass the totals seen in 2022.
In Essex County as part of last weekend's Labour Day blitz, eight impaired driving charges were handed out over the four day period.
Chaouki Hamka says impaired driving numbers started to spike during the pandemic after a period where they were gradually going down, so to see the latest numbers from police is discouraging.
"Generally speaking the numbers do rise close to and during long weekends, it's just the nature of the game unfortunately. A lot more people are out there, a lot more people are drinking, a lot more people are smoking. The chanced for people to make unsafe and irresponsible decisions goes up on long weekends."
Hamka says too many people still don't understand what it means to be impaired, or the danger they can pose to others after just a couple of drinks if they get behind the wheel.
"They didn't feel they were impaired, they did not have far to drive, or they thought they could drive carefully. You know you hear these reason over and over again. They understand the consequences of impaired driving, they know it's deadly, they know it's the number one criminal cause of death in Canada but people continue to make that decision."
He says numbers and data can also be skewed at the same time, with law enforcement stepping up and carrying out R.I.D.E. (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) campaigns, and running safety/education programs.
But with that said, it's still incumbent on people to think about and plan for rides home if they're going to be drinking alcohol or smoking cannabis.
"So people are definitely hearing the message, and a lot of people are getting the messages so a lot of people will never make the decision to drive impaired. So now we look at it as are those people who haven't learned their lesson or keep testing the waters finally getting caught because law enforcement have stepped up. So I think that's a big factor if you really look at the numbers as well."
The OPP say nearly 75 per cent of the drivers being charged with impaired driving offences in Ontario are men.
In surveys carried out by the local MADD chapter, they've found young men have traditionally been the problem group but now young women are taking the risk a lot more which Hamka believes could be part of the reason why the numbers are continuing to go up.
He says once impaired driving technology is incorporated into vehicles, something he says the US is currently working on and that Canada should follow, then we should see the numbers start to go down.