Police take 29 intoxicated drivers off the road in Okanagan

BC Highway Patrol has released statistics for its opening weekend of CounterAttack in the Okanagan.

Checkstops were rolled out across B.C. this Saturday, as police marked National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day. A month-long provincial CounterAttack holiday campaign also runs until the end of the month.

From the U.S. border to the North Okanagan, including Keremeos, Kelowna and Vernon, BC Highway Patrol and their partners apprehended 29 drivers between 4 p.m., Saturday and 4 a.m. Sunday.

Here are the results from that period:

• Twelve Impaired Drivers (Over 80 mg%)
• Seven 3-day Suspensions (Over 60 mg%)
• Eight 24-hour Suspensions (Over 50 mg% or under the influence of a drug)
• One 12-hour Suspension ( Class 7 driver providing a sample over 0 mg%)
• One Criminal Code driver who fled the police at a road check and later apprehended without a pursuit.

"Our goal is to have no drivers under any influence, be that alcohol or drugs. Unfortunately we aren’t getting our message through to everyone," said Sgt. Bruce Petersen of the BC Highway Patrol.

BC Highway Patrol says they will continue to focus on both alcohol and drugs, including prescription medications.

"Drugs is not just illegal drugs, but it’s also your prescription drugs. Maybe you have a painkiller. Our object is to get you to realize that if you are under the influence of anything, whether it’s alcohol or drugs, please don’t get behind the wheel and drive. Let’s make it safe for everybody this Christmas season."

"We do want to thank those drivers who had a designated driver or took an alternate means to get home, we did find a lot of those individuals," Sgt. Petersen says.