Automated licence plate recognition identifies suspended impaired driver, police say

A suspended driver is facing multiple charges – including impaired driving – following a northern Ontario traffic stop on Friday afternoon.

A suspended driver is facing multiple charges – including impaired driving – following a northern Ontario traffic stop on Friday afternoon.

On Dec. 29 shortly before 4 p.m., a member of the James Bay Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) detachments was alerted by his vehicle’s automated licence plate recognition system that a vehicle was registered to a suspended driver.

“OPP stopped a vehicle on Highway 11, in Clute Township, west of Cochrane,” said police in a news release Saturday.

“As the officer was speaking with the driver, it was determined that they had been consuming alcohol.”

The driver was arrested and transported to the Cochrane OPP detachment for further testing.

As a result of the investigation, the driver, a 42-year-old man from Burk’s Falls, Ont. has been charged with two impaired driving offences, failing to comply with a probation order and for operating a motor vehicle while prohibited under the criminal code. Additionally, the suspect’s driver’s licence was suspended for 90 days and the vehicle involved was impounded for 45 days at the owner’s expense as a result of driving while previously criminally suspended.

This incident comes only two days after the OPP announced that they had laid more than 10,000 impaired driving charges so far in 2023 – a 16 per cent increase compared to 2022.