Seven drivers lost their licences Saturday night as Niagara Regional Police fanned out across Niagara Falls and St. Catharines for Halloween RIDE spot checks.
Officers with the Niagara Regional Police Service stopped more than 300 vehicles over the course of the night on October 31, 2026, asking each driver whether they had consumed alcohol or drugs earlier in the evening, according to the Niagara Regional Police Service.
Twenty-six drivers were required to provide breath samples for analysis. Six of those tests registered an "Alert" result, and each of those drivers received a seven-day licence suspension.
A seventh suspension came from a different kind of driving. While on mobile patrol, officers pulled over a driver for a stunt after the vehicle was captured travelling at more than 150 km/h. That driver received a 30-day roadside suspension, and the vehicle was towed and seized for 14 days.
Police also handed out 17 Provincial Offence Notices for a range of traffic-related offences. Among them was one driver charged with driving while under suspension, and two drivers found to be without valid insurance.
The RIDE program — short for Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere — is a provincial enforcement initiative aimed at catching impaired drivers through roadside spot checks.
The Halloween initiative was made possible in part through grant funding from the Ministry of the Solicitor General, police said.
In announcing the results, the service noted that impaired driving remains the leading criminal cause of death in Canada, and said it remains committed to reducing impaired driving through education and through enforcement programs like RIDE.
Saturday's checks targeted two of the region's busiest areas on one of its busiest party nights of the year, with Niagara Falls drawing large Halloween crowds and St. Catharines hosting celebrations of its own. The seven suspensions mean those drivers are off the region's roads, at least temporarily, with the stunt driver facing the longest time without a licence.
Residents can expect further RIDE initiatives from the NRPS as the holiday season approaches, a period when police traditionally step up impaired-driving enforcement across Ontario.
