MUSKOKA ENDS 2025 WITH TWO IMPAIRED DRIVING CHARGES AND STARTS 2026 WITH ONE EARLY ON JAN. 2
MUSKOKA — While none would be better, two drivers face impaired operating driving charges to end 2025 while another person faced the same to start off the New Year.
On Monday, December 30, at 3:52 p.m., OPP in Huntsville received a call from a concerned motorist reporting a possible impaired driver stopped on the side of the Highway 11 at Stephenson Rd 8. who agreed to wait until police arrived.
Officers located the vehicle and determined the driver to be impaired.
As a result of the investigation, Terry Simpson, 39, of Toronto, was charged with: Operation while impaired – Alcohol / Drugs; and Operation while impaired – Blood alcohol concentration (80 plus)
Simpson was released to appear in February 2026 before the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge.
He was also issued a 90-day Administrative Driver’s Licence Suspension and the vehicle was impounded for seven days.
SEVERN BRIDGE MAN CHARGED
NEW YEAR’S EVE DAY
The following afternoon in Kilworthy, police conducting RIDE checks charged a second driver.
On December 31, at 1:20 p.m., officers with the Traffic Investigation Management Team (T.I.M.E.) were conducting a RIDE (Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere) program on South Kahshe Lake Road in south Gravenhurst.
Officers soon entered into an impaired driving investigation and subsequently arrested and charged 49-year-old Morton Smith, of nearby Severn Bridge, with Impaired Operation – Drug, driving while under suspension and driving a vehicle with cannabis readily available.
Smith is to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge on January 20, 2026.
Police report no charges around the calendar change at midnight.
JAN. 2 IMPAIRED DRIVING
CHARGE IN HUNTSVILLE
But on morning of the second day of the new year, at 12:34 a.m., officers patrolling Main Street in Huntsville observed a vehicle commit a traffic violation.
After speaking with the driver, the driver was suspected to have alcohol in his body, they said.
On conducting a roadside alcohol test the driver failed it and was arrested.
As a result of the investigation, Melchor Bilog, 38, of Huntsville Ontario, was charged with: Operation while impaired – Blood alcohol concentration (80 plus).
Bilog was released to appear in February 2026 before the Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge.
He, too, was issued a 90-day Administrative Driver’s Licence Suspension and the vehicle was impounded seven days.
