There are few places for an impaired driver to hide, on New Year's Eve. The three RCMP traffic departments centred in Prince George are combining forces to saturate the city's streets with public safety.
"We have partnered with North District Traffic Services and the Integrated Road Safety Units for this evening of celebrations," said Prince George RCMP Sgt. Al Steinhauser, commander of the municipal traffic forces.
"We have utilized that partnership before and we will do that all the time now because it allows us all to have better coverage."
Motorists can expect to see more than just the regular sites police set up roadchecks around the city, which are chosen for reasons like high traffic volumes, safer vehicle patterns and fewer opportunities for drivers to duck out of inspection.
"We will have extra manpower on New Year's Eve so you can expect to see roadchecks throughout the normal system, at all our usual spots," Steinhauser said.
"But we will also have roving roadchecks, and we will also have mobile members set up on feeder roads to intercept any drivers who attempt to turn off early and avoid the main roadcheck spot."
General duty members will also have a beefed up roster on New Year's Eve, he said, so other elements of policing get required attention.
"We encourage people to have a good time but be respectful to the others in the city so we can all go into the new year safely and joyously," Steinhauser said.
Anyone who sees a possibly impaired driver or any unsafe activity taking place is asked to call RCMP as soon as safely possible. During emergencies, if witnessing an incident, please call 911. For non-emergencies call 250-561-3300.
