It’s mid-December and that means the holiday season is officially upon us.
It’s also the season of Christmas parties, family functions and New Year’s celebrations, which means more opportunity for drinking and driving.
For the RCMP, their message to the public is simple.
“Don’t think that it’s OK to do,” said Cpl. Fleming Kaastrup of the Westlock RCMP traffic services.
“Just because you might be able to get away with it doesn’t mean it’s something you should do.”
Regardless, many drivers choose to ignore the warnings, disobey the law and drive drunk.
“It’s probably the most common criminal charge that’s laid and, unfortunately, also contested by people,” Kaastrup said.
“I think people just don’t understand the danger. They think, I just had a couple drinks and I function perfectly fine.
“And that’s the problem is that it impairs their judgment and their ability to operate a motor vehicle, so that when their judgment is impaired, then they think they’re fine.”
MADD Canada estimates that between 1,250 and 1,500 Canadians die in impaired-related crashes each year, meaning on average between 3.4 and 4.1 deaths per day.
Drunk driving is an issue for police year-round. While statistics show that drunk driving doesn’t get any worse around Christmas, holiday celebrations tend to present more frequent temptations to get behind the wheel after a drink or two.
“The Christmas season tends to have a lot more group parties in relation to work — their workplace Christmas party, or guys getting together after work to celebrate having days off,” Kaastrup said.
“It’s a little more prevalent, I guess, and then it also leads into the New Year celebrations. So December is a bit more of a problem month.”
In order to combat the problem, and as part of National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, police are out patrolling the roads in full-force.
Kaastrup says it’s likely because of increased police presence that more drivers make the wise decision of staying off the roads.
“I think people nowadays, especially around this time of year, they’re more cognizant of the fact there is more policing out there so they are more apt to maybe consider having that backup plan,” he said.
“You think it’s something they should know all year-round, but because it’s more in the media, we are more visible and we are doing more checkstops, people are more apt to do that extra planning.”
The public plays a large role in catching drunk drivers by reporting suspected impaired drivers to police, Kaastrup explained.
“We do get lots of calls and typically that helps us,” he said. “It gives us that many more eyes and ears on the road. And we do catch a lot of impaired driving that way.”
Kaastrup warned that drivers shouldn’t break any driving laws themselves while reporting the suspected drivers.
Police also warn that aside from alcohol, driving under the influence of drugs is also dangerous and illegal. RCMP have measures to identify and test for drug impairment and it can also result in criminal charges.
Drivers that are caught and convicted lose their licence for a minimum of three months.
If you’re blood alcohol content is below the .08 threshold for an impaired driving charge, but above .05, driver’s face an immediate three-day suspension and three-day vehicle seizure.
Ultimately, Kaastrup said he’s hopeful motorists would opt not to drink and drive this holiday season.
“I’m happy if people don’t drink and drive because they’re worried about the police catching them,” he said.
“I’d prefer that people didn’t drink and drive because they were worried they might hurt themselves or other people.”
