The Christmas season's driving brought everyone home alive, in 2011, but impairment was still a concern for Prince George police.
"There were no fatalities in our area as a result of alcohol or drug impairment," said RCMP Cpl. Madonna Saunderson, checking over the statistics from the December Counterattack campaign around the greater Prince George region.
"We have noticed an increase in the amount of drivers impaired by drugs, but the impairment by alcohol was down slightly from the same period last year," she said. "Since the legislation changed, more people are aware of their sobriety when they get behind the wheel. That is good to see."
The legislation refers to provincial penalties by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles added in the last year to the penalties still available under the Criminal Code. None of the benchmarks for impairment changed, but quicker, non-criminal consequences are now at a police officer's disposal when an impaired driver is detected.
Although the courts are currently involved in adding an appeals process especially for the 90-day driving prohibition component now available to police, the rules still stand, Saunderson said.
"The matter is still before the courts for that one area of clarification, which is something we look forward to. Police are always helped by clarity from the courts about the laws we are there to enforce," she said. Saunderson added that if anything has changed, during the waiting period for that clarification, it is the higher likelihood that a police officer will simply take a suspect of that nature directly into the criminal prosecution stream instead of the non-criminal driving suspension.
During the month of December, Saunderson said, the combined RCMP traffic forces around the area recommended 23 people for criminal charges (eight for drugs and 14 for alcohol). Twenty-four hour driving suspensions were issued to 19 other drivers (five for alcohol and 14 for other drugs). Three-day suspensions were issued to 22 other drivers and two others got 90-day suspensions, all for alcohol impairment.
Just because December is past does not mean the RCMP are stepping down their impaired driving focus, she said. It remains a safety priority for police across the region and the province.
