Too many still drive drunk

Photo: Carmen Weld

The message isn't getting through.

Drunk driving is, and continues to be, a major issue on Canadian roadways. The Okanagan is no exception.

On Saturday March 22 The North Okanagan Traffic Service was out conducting vehicle checks looking for impaired drivers.

During a four hour period two 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibitions were handed out, one 12-hour driving suspension was given to a Novice driver for alcohol in the system and one seizure of cannabis was reported.

Of the 246 vehicles checked, 15 roadside alcohol screening tests were done.

On top of that one evening, in the last week in the North Okanagan alone, a 24-hour prohibition was issued, six additional 90-day prohibitions were issued and one impaired driving charge was given.

Eleven cars were impounded that week, nine of which were a result of impaired driving. The other two were for excessive speed.  

“Every week we give you the totals and it is not as though we have not been advising the public for a quite awhile. But here we are every week seeing numbers at this level,” said a concerned RCMP Spokesman Gord Molendyk.

“We have some individuals who just feel they are not going to get caught, or it won’t happen to them and they take that chance.”

Molendyk hopes that with police enforcement and constant reminders throughout Canada that cops are watching and will catch impaired driving that one day the numbers will go down.

“I firmly believe we want to keep the awareness out there and we want people to know we are looking for them,” warned Molendyk. “Imagine if this is the numbers just in the North Okanagan imagine the numbers Canada wide.”