Now that the holiday season is in full swing, RCMP officers are "out in full force” to prevent impaired driving.
Now that the holiday season is in full swing, RCMP officers are “out in full force” to prevent impaired driving.
Impaired driving enforcement is always a priority for the police, but the Christmas season brings heightened awareness to the issue, says RCMP Cst. Chris Clark.
“The month of December is our Impaired Driving Enforcement Month,” he said. “Our plan is called Operation Save Christmas. We’ ll be out and about, reminding people not to drive impaired and catching impaired drivers to make sure that they’ re off our roads.”
The RCMP has joined forces with a variety of different law enforcement agencies, such as Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, to execute Operation Save Christmas. A series of multi-agency check-stops has been planned, both on the region’ s highways and in urban areas.
“We have nine full-scale check-stops that are planned, not counting our other check-stops that will be randomly spread throughout (the area),” Clark said. One of the planned check-stops took place on Friday night.
The point of the check-stops is not to catch as many impaired drivers as possible, Clark says. Rather, it’ s to remind the public that officers are out there enforcing the law and deter would-be impaired drivers.
“We’ re not out there to target impaired drivers...that’ s not the philosophy,” Clark told the POST.
Later this month, officers will be manning “candy cane check-stops,” distributing holiday treats while reminding people to drive safely.
The holiday season is a time when the risk of impaired driving is increased, Clark says, because Christmastime get-togethers frequently involve drinking-and cold temperatures make people more reluctant to walk places.
Clark advises planning ahead, because there are alternatives aplenty to impaired driving. Make arrangements to hitch a ride with someone else, he says, or plan to spend the night at a friend’ s home.
“Drinking and driving is definitely not worth it,” he said. “Certainly, it shouldn’ t happen. We’ ve done a lot of education and people know that it’ s socially unacceptable and against the law, however, they still do it.”
In many cases, he says, people have just one or two drinks too many and, lacking a backup plan, they think they have no choice but to drive.
Check-stops and roving patrols are all well and good, but the RCMP could use some help from the public as well. If you observe suspicious activity or suspect someone of driving while impaired, do not hesitate to call 911, Clark says.
With files from Luke Muise.
