The annual Operation Red Nose campaign that provides safe rides home for partygoers and their vehicles during the holiday season concluded with 172 safe rides home successfully completed on New Year's Eve.
There were a total of 872 rides provided throughout the service that focused on Friday and Saturday nights beginning on Nov. 25 and concluding Dec. 31 for a total of 10 nights.
There was no service provided on
Dec. 23 or 24.
Operation Red Nose is a by-donation service provided by the Rotary Club of Prince George Nechako in partnership with ICBC and the RCMP.
The project relies heavily on volunteers who are dispatchers and drivers and the most demand was seen New Year's Eve with 89 volunteers, including 24 road teams traveling 4,142 kilometres from
9 p.m. to about 3 a.m.
There were wait times of up to an hour due to the many calls that came in after midnight and everyone got home safely.
For the first time in their 19-year history in Prince George, an Operation Red Nose driver was involved in an accident. On Dec. 16 a designated driver taking two clients home in their truck slid down a short embankment near Chief Lake Road and Highway 97.
Operation Red Nose has special insurance for incidents like this one and ICBC covers it.
In the past, Operation Red Nose has seen two years where there were more than 1,100 rides provided and that occurred in 2010 and 2014 where 1,123 rides were delivered each of those years for record breaking numbers and the last time it was under 1,000 was in 2009 when 796 rides were delivered.
More than $20,000 was raised during the by-donation event and those funds will support local youth and amateur sport groups.
The local RCMP's winter impaired driving enforcement campaign ended on new year's eve.
Here are the details for the six weekends Prince George RCMP's Municipal Traffic Services Section conducted check stops and roving patrols throughout the city, which targeting impaired drivers:
25 impaired drivers.
6 90-day immediate roadside prohibition (IRP), with 30 day vehicle impoundment.
One seven-day IRP with vehicle impoundment.
Five three-day IRP with vehicle impoundment.
Three 24-hour suspension for alcohol.
Nine 24-hour suspension for drugs.
One 12-hour suspension for a Class 7 (new driver) with alcohol.
66 speeding violations.
15 intersection-related violations.
Five distracted driving violations (cell phones).
Two no seatbelt violations.
Four driving without due care and attention charges.
Two driving without consideration charges.
Four stunting violations with seven-day vehicle impoundment.
Six driving without a licence, some with vehicle impoundments.
11 no insurance violations.
44 administrative violations.
Two vehicle equipment Infractions.
Eight vehicle inspection orders for non-compliance.
Four drug seizures (no charges).
To detect and apprehend impaired drivers, officers use many different tools to help them, including approved screening devices, physical coordination testing, and a drug recognition expert. Specially trained officers did three standardized field sobriety tests to suspend two drug-affected drivers.
Although the campaign is over, the local police are reminding drivers that they will keep targeting impaired drivers throughout the year and there are no excuses for driving impaired.
From 2007 to 2015, the local RCMP responded to six fatal and 11 impaired causing bodily harm collisions during the same six-week period.
This year, there were no fatalities and no impaired causing bodily harm collisions.
