Ottawa driver pulled over for driving too slow on Highway 417
Posted Mar 23, 2025 01:50:46 PM.
Last Updated Mar 24, 2025 01:35:20 PM.
Police were out just after midnight in the nation’s capital when they noticed a driver not going the speed limit.
Usually, officers are busy pulling people over for driving too fast, but this time the driver was going “well below” the limit and weaving in and out of traffic on Highway 417 near Pinecrest Road.
Once provincial police stopped the vehicle they found that the driver had been drinking. They blew twice the legal limit on a roadside impaired test and immediately lost their licence for 90 days.
Anna Tomchynska, 33, faces the following charges:
- Operation while impaired – alcohol and drugs
- Operation while impaired – blood alcohol concentration (80 plus)
Further, the vehicle they were driving was impounded for the next week.
This incident comes after the police force noted it has been 100 years since driving impaired by a drug — then called narcotic — became a law in the country.
“Unfortunately it remains a problem today — it is also entirely preventable,” police said.
According to Public Safety Canada, impaired driving, by drugs or alcohol, continues to kill or injure more Canadians than any other crime. It is also the most important factor in serious road crashes.
Rise in impaired driving
The latest figures available from the Ontario Provincial Police show impaired driving charges increased nearly eight per cent in 2022 and an additional 7.5 per cent in 2023, with 11,000 charges laid that year.
During the OPP’s Festive RIDE program, which occurred between Nov. 21, 2024 and Jan. 1, 2025, 743 people were charged across the province with impaired driving offences, and 29 licences were suspended.
And those charges are deadly. While alcohol and drug-related fatalities decreased in 2023 with 67 fatalities compared to 84 in 2022, it is a stark increase from the 42 fatalities in 2021.
As of Jan. 1, any impaired driver who causes a fatality will face a lifetime license suspension. The changes, which were announced last May, also increase first-time roadside license suspensions from three to seven days, and second-time suspensions from seven to 14 days.
With files from CityNews’ Rachel Morgan.
