2021 STARTS WITH 3 IMPAIRED DRIVING CHARGES IN GRAVENHURST

GRAVENHURST —  The new year is off to an ominous start on the roads.

After the OPP’s annual Festive RIDE campaign wrapped up Jan. 3 with an increase in impaired drivers on Muskoka roads, three drivers in Gravenhurst the first week of 2021 were charged with being drunk on local roads.

It started last Thursday with an auto accident early New Year’s Day, which landed the driver in hospital and impaired driving charges for the local man here.

Police said today they responded to a report of a single vehicle collision Jan. 1 at 5 a.m., on Hwy. 11 north, after passing motorist noticed the vehicle overturned in the ditch and called 911.

The sole occupant was transported to local hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Officers investigating the crash have charged Brian Viega, 40, of Gravenhurst, with:

  • Operation While Impaired CC 320.14(1)(a),
  • Refusal to Provide Breath Sample CC 320.15(1)
  • And Failing to Comply with his Probation Order CC 733.1(1).

Viega is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge March 16, 2021.

Yesterday, police charged two more drivers here with impaired operation they say thanks to information called in by concerned members of the public.

At 8:37 a.m. a motorist called in to report a vehicle swerving and causing concern travelling on Hwy. 11 north in Gravenhurst.

Officers were able to stop the vehicle and as a result arrested and charged 57-year-old Lindsay Verge, of Victoria Harbour, with Operation While Impaired by Drug CC 320.14(1)(a).

Verge is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge March 23, 2021.

Later in the afternoon, at 4:30 p.m., police received a tip that there was a snow vehicle being operated in an unsafe manner on Tower Crescent in Gravenhurst.

Officers located the vehicle and arrested and charged Corey Carpenter, 40, of Gravenhurst, with Operation While Impaired- Over 80 CC 320.14(1)(b) — along with various offences under the Motorized Snow Vehicle Act.

Carpenter is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge March 10, 2021.

Two Gravenhurst men and a man from Victoria Harbour were charged with impaired driving this past week.