With festivities getting underway in homes and workplaces across the province, drivers are reminded to plan ahead for a safe ride home: take public transit, call a cab, ride with a designated driver or stay overnight.

About one-quarter of all fatalities on Ontario roads are alcohol-related. That is why Ontario has some of the toughest impaired driving laws in North America.  Drivers with a blood alcohol concentration level in the 0.05 to 0.08 "warn" range face an immediate licence suspension for three days for the first instance, seven days for the next, and 30 days for the third and subsequent instances.

Drivers caught with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit -- higher than 0.08 -- face an immediate 90-day licence suspension and, if convicted, mandatory participation in remedial alcohol education and treatment programs as well as having an ignition interlock condition placed on their driver's licence for at least one year.