Edmonton, AB – On Friday, December 4th, the RCMP marks its seventh National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day with a Canada-wide CheckStop blitz aimed at keeping impaired drivers off the roads. Here in Alberta, RCMP officers will be out on the roads in 112 local detachment areas and on highways throughout the province. At some locations, Alberta Traffic Sheriffs will be on hand to assist.
As the holiday season begins, the goal of the operation is to take impaired drivers off the roads and to send a strong message to all Albertans about the need to work together in preventing a crime that remains one of the leading causes of criminal death in Canada. The RCMP is also reminding Albertans who suspect a motorist is impaired to pull over and call 911.
“It’s not just about the impaired driver. It’s about friends and family stepping up to make sure the people in their lives are sober when they get behind the wheel,” said RCMP Superintendent Ian Lawson, Officer-in-Charge of Alberta RCMP Traffic Service.
“Insisting a friend crash on your couch is better than having them crash on the road – especially if you know they shouldn’t be driving.”
The RCMP conducted its first Canada-wide National Impaired Driving Awareness and Enforcement Day in December 2013, and has repeated the national CheckStop blitz operation five times, stopping and checking more than 345,000 vehicles resulting in over 2,500 enforcement actions taken against impaired drivers. These numbers do not reflect the results of CheckStops that take place as part of day-to-day RCMP operations across Canada and throughout Alberta.