The St. Albert RCMP is employing a mixed bag of strategies this season as Christmas once again leads to too many people driving drunk.
The detachment puts an added emphasis on impaired driving during the holiday season as holiday parties and other celebrations lead to higher levels of drinking and driving.
Cpl. Don Murray, head of the detachment’s traffic section, said the holiday season is unfortunately always a bad time for impaired drivers.
“Absolutely people are out there consuming more liquor at this time of the year so we adjust our enforcement plans accordingly.”
Murray said this year the detachment has done fewer CheckStops, because of bad weather that would make it unsafe for RCMP officers to be standing on the roads.
He said that simply means the detachment has to change tactics.
“We still have members out on roving patrols, dedicated entirely to roving patrols, looking for impaired drivers. So we are out there regardless.”
Murray said the detachment has also partnered with several late-night drive-thru restaurants and placed an officer inside working with intercept cars.
“It just makes sense that once and a while we have an officer in a drive-thru,” he said. “It is not something we do on a regular basis, but it is just another tool in our toolbox.”
The mixed bag of approaches hasn’t changed numbers much this year, said Murray and it was in line with what the detachment expects during the season.
“I would say it is standard as far as impaired driving. There is no marked increase or decrease for impaired drivers.”
He also encouraged the public to continue to call 911 if they encounter an impaired driver and police will respond as quickly as possible.
Higher fines introduced in 2008 mean that an impaired driver on first conviction will receive at least a fine of $1,000, but fines are often heavier if accidents occur, if the driving pattern was especially worrisome or if the driver had an especially high blood alcohol level.
