Police arrested 403 impaired drivers in Hamilton in 2023

Hamilton Police report they’ve arrested 403 impaired drivers in 2023.

On Dec. 29, police released several stats of their activity over the last year, such as seizing more than 400 guns.

Part of that data includes newly released numbers of impaired driving arrests. The service said 183 (more than 44 per cent) of those arrests were a direct result of citizens calling 911 to report a suspected impaired driver.

Of the total, 265 (65.7 per cent) were impaired by alcohol and 55 (13.6 per cent) were impaired by cannabis or other drugs. Of the 265 arrested for drunk driving, 244 (92 per cent) had a blood alcohol level above 80.

In these cases, 53 (13.2 per cent) refused to provide a breath sample to police. Impaired driving also resulted in 142 crashes, more than one third of all total cases.