The public is used to hearing about stories from those impacted by drinking and driving.
Those include stories from victims and their families, as well as from those dealing with the consequences of their decisions to drink and drive. But there aren’t as many stories told about the impact on law enforcement responding to such instances.
That’s about to change.
In Regina on Friday, Sgt. Al Hofland, acting officer in charge of traffic services in Saskatchewan, announced a social media campaign by the RCMP to tell the stories of police officers who have dealt with drinking and driving incidents.
The campaign coincided with National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day on Saturday, Dec. 3.
Beginning at 11 a.m. that day and for the next 24 hours, a total of 24 personal impaired driving enforcement stories were to be shared on Saskatchewan RCMP social media pages.
Here is one example the RCMP shared:
“I was patrolling the highway and a van went by 85 km/h in a 60 km/h zone. I activated my emergency lights and proceeded to do a traffic stop. The vehicle continued down the highway and turned towards the hospital. I was thinking maybe this was a medical emergency. The van came to a stop and the driver exited the vehicle and staggered into the middle of the road. I yelled at the driver to get back into the vehicle. Another car stopped and they knew the driver and yelled to get back into the vehicle. The driver complied. I approached the van and asked the driver for licence and registration. At this point, the driver stated "OK. I admit it, I am impaired." The driver was charged with impaired driving. They had been convicted eight previous times for impaired driving, and was also a disqualified driver at the time of the offence.”
In addition to sharing these stories on social media, RCMP members will step up enforcement efforts at the same time by targeting impaired and distracted driving, aggressive driving and seatbelt use, among others.
The idea is to get their message across about the negative impact of impaired driving in a way that goes beyond statistical numbers.
“When it comes to talking about impaired driving, we hear from the public: telling statistics alone are not necessarily enough of a safety message,” said Hofland.
“Although we are highlighting this day of enforcement initiatives, members are out each day, working to keep Saskatchewan roads safe,” he added. “The stories we will be sharing on social media provide examples of what RCMP members see as they work to keep impaired drivers off our roads.”
As the RCMP pointed out at their press conference Friday, the drinking and driving numbers continue to be high. In December 2015, RCMP in Saskatchewan charged 210 people for impaired driving offences, and averaged over one driving complaint call per hour between the hours of 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. They also responded to eight fatal collisions of which half were alcohol-related.
The RCMP is thanking their members for sharing their stories and the public for continuing to report impaired drivers. The RCMP called impaired driving “entirely preventable” and urges people to not drink and drive.
