

Chris Fox, CP24.com





York Regional Police say that the arrest of three impaired drivers over the span of a couple of hours on Friday morning is “disturbing” and marks the continuation of an alarming trend.

The three impaired driving arrests all occurred before 10 a.m.

Police say that the first arrest occurred following a two-vehicle collision near Davis Drive and Leslie Street in Newmarket. The driver was placed under arrest for allegedly being impaired by a drug while a passenger was taken into custody for possession.

The second incident happened near King Road and Weller Avenue in Nobleton.

Police say that they arrived in the area to find a driver and passenger passed out in a vehicle. The driver was then taken into custody under suspicion of impaired operation.

The third incident occurred in the Ravenshoe and Kennedy roads area of Georgina.

Police say that they were called to the area for a single-vehicle collision and then took the driver into custody after determining that they were impaired.

“It is disturbing. It is just depressing that we have to continue to go through this,” Const. Andy Pattenden told CP24 on Friday morning. “Every week we are out publically talking about the dangers of impaired driving but we see more tragedy on our roads time and time again.”

In addition to the three arrests on Friday morning, York Regional Police also made a fourth arrest early on Friday afternoon after receiving a call from a concerned citizen who spotted the suspected impaired driver on Old Yonge Street in East Gwillimbury.

Pattenden said that the arrests are a “disappointing start” to the long weekend but won’t dissuade police from continuing to work to get impaired drivers off the roads.

“This is a really disturbing trend that we continue to see in York Region,” he said. “The only encouraging thing that we do see here is that the number of people calling 911 when they spot a suspected impaired driver is on the rise. So our citizens aren’t going to tolerate this.”