Summer crackdown on impaired driving gets financial boost
Posted June 29, 2012 3:42 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Police across the province are ramping up a summer crackdown on impaired driving thanks to $ 1-million from the government.
This will increase the number of roadblocks which will also be set up at new locations. There’s also more awareness advertising, like a CounterAttack TV ad airing province-wide starting Monday, as well as designated driver messaging in bars, restaurants, golf courses, wineries, sports venues and special events.
Chief Cst. Jamie Graham, chair of the BC Association of Chiefs of Police Traffic Safety Committee, thinks we are beyond lecturing people about the evils of drinking or doing drugs and driving. “If you don’t get it by now, you probably shouldn’t be driving at all. Please be smart and show personal responsibility. Don’t drink or use drugs and get behind the wheel. You will get caught, you have been warned.”
Justice Minister Shirley Bond made the announcement, appealing to personal responsibility. “Make the smart choice, during the CounterAttack season and everyday. If you want to go out and enjoy yourself, make sure you have a plan in place for a safe ride home.”
Graham says this money will be supported by BC’s tough roadside rules back in place since June 15 after they brought in an appeal process. “You don’t hear the word lenient and you don’t hear IRP (Immediate Roadside Prohibition) in the same sentence because they don’t belong together. This is revolutionary legislation. It’s being reviewed by jurisdictions all over Canada who wish they were first. This saves lives.”
The money is split with $300,000 going to municipal police departments and $700,000 to RCMP-policed jurisdictions.
In the first year of IRPs, the original program cut the alcohol-related death toll on BC roads by 40 per cent, compared to the average of the previous five years, according to research by the University of Victoria. It ran into court challenges and has since been changed and reinstated.
This year marks the 35th year of CounterAttack in BC.
