Island District RCMP’s “Light Up The Highway” campaign, part of the province-wide holiday CounterAttack, stopped 7-thousand cars on its first night.
RCMP Corporal Darren Lagan says their goal throughout the holiday season is to get impaired drivers off the roads using a host of different tactics, “They can be planned events like this, where it’s a coordinated one from the south to the north end of the Island. They can also be impromptu ones that are set up all seven days of the week right through the Christmas season. This is one that we’ve done for several years. We call it “Light Up The Highway” because we are on the Trans-Canada Highway.”
Lagan says 43 officers took part Friday night. In total, there was one Criminal Code impaired driving charge, 11 Immediate Roadside Prohibitions for a “warn” and four people who blew a “fail” on the roadside screening device and were handed 90-day IRPs. Lagan says although some people still aren’t getting the message, the number of impaired drivers is dropping, “We see [the number of impaired drivers] decreasing year after year, so we’re happy to see that.”
Lagan says they appreciate the public’s support for the safety campaigns, which may slow them down for a few minutes, but could ultimately save them from being in an accident caused by an impaired driver.
RCMP on the Sunshine Coast also had their CounterAttack roadside checks out on the weekend, but the final numbers haven’t been released yet.
Other statistics from Friday:
- 3 prohibited drivers charged
- 6 drug seizures
- 153 Violation tickets (seatbelts, driver’s license infractions, moving violations, insurance related violations)
- 21 Notice and Orders (warnings/inspections/vehicle defects/repair orders)
