One driver was found unconscious and slumped over the steering wheel of a vehicle that had crashed into a parked car.

Another narrowly missed an oncoming police cruiser, while pulling out of a parking lot.

The two are among the 11 motorists London police have arrested on suspicion of impaired driving since last Thursday, when they charged a 23-year-old man with the same crime after a head-on crash that killed a woman stopped in her car at a red light on her way to work.

The sudden spike in charges has not gone unnoticed.

“It’s concerning. It’s a high number. Ideally we’d like to see none,” said police spokesperson Const. Chris Loizides.

“We always recommend when people consume alcohol, regardless of the amount, that they try to find an alternative method of (transportation) . . . because even if you are not criminally impaired, any amount you consume will affect you,” he said.

According to MADD Canada, 58 per cent of fatal crashes involve impaired drivers.

Nearly 1,500 of Canada’s 2,546 road deaths in 2012 involved motorists with alcohol, drugs or both substances in their systems, the agency said in its 2015-2016 report.

Police charged 23-year-old Jinghao Zhou with impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death after the Thursday-morning crash that killed Gloria Chivers, 60.

A longtime London Free Press carrier, Chivers was working Thursday at 3 a.m. and stopped in her Sunfire at a red light on Sunningdale Road when her car was struck by an oncoming SUV. The impact sent the Sunfire careening nearly 45 metres, leaving the road covered in debris.

Loizides noted people often think of impaired driving as the extreme cases — high-profile drunk driving crashes, where the suspect had consumed “copious amounts” of alcohol — but said any amount of alcohol is impairing.

“It’s important that people realize even if you only have one or two, it’s going to interfere with your ability,” he said.

The rash of charges, just ahead of the holiday season and right after such a devastating crash, prompted one London officer to take his frustrations to social media.

“I arrested a man for impaired and he blew more than 3x legal limit. Another driver being brought to cells . . . the third for the night,” tweeted former media relations officer Const. Ken Steeves, early Friday morning.

“Total of 4 impaired drivers arrested tonight . . . the day after a fatality . . . Thanks to those who drive sober,” he tweeted a few hours later, following up with “Some are not getting the message.”

By Sunday morning, that was crystal clear: Paramedics were called to deal with a driver in distress and found someone slumped over the steering wheel of a vehicle that had crashed into a parked car near the intersection of Hale and Brydges streets.

Paramedics smashed the window of the vehicle.

Once they assessed the driver, police took over.

JLObrien@postmedia.com