WESTLOCK – A weekend of enforcement on Westlock-area highways as part of Operation Impact 2022, as well as a separate five-hour “multi-agency” checkstop Oct. 9 around highways 2 and 18 that saw more than 900 vehicles stopped, netted a slew of speeding tickets and no-insurance charges, while two impaired drivers were taken off the road and had their vehicles seized.
Alberta RCMP Traffic-Westlock Sgt. Leigh Drinkwater, whose unit patrols the highways in and around Westlock, Barrhead, Wabasca and Slave Lake, said Oct. 13 that during the long weekend, Oct. 7-10, they handed out 59 tickets, with the majority for speeding, while there were no reported collisions or fatalities. Operation Impact, an annual campaign by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, asked drivers to put their best foot forward and “put the brakes on driving behaviours” like impaired driving due to alcohol, drugs and fatigue, aggressive driving and distracted driving which all “put drivers, passengers and other road users at risk.”
“Absolutely, no collisions or fatalities is always good thing. And having our presence out of the roadways in this area for the weekend made people more cognizant of their driving behaviours,” he added.
The 'big' checkstop
Drinkwater said that his unit, along with RCMP Traffic members from the Redwater, Boyle and Athabasca detachments — 11 Mounties in total — partnered with six Fish and Wildlife officers and two provincial sheriffs (commercial vehicles) for an Oct. 9 checkstop in and around the Village of Clyde. Specific locations were Highway 2, heading north towards Highway 18; Highway 18 east of Highway 2; and Highway 18 west of Highway 2.
Drinkwater confirmed that “over 900 vehicles” were stopped from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. which led to charges ranging from open liquor within reach of an occupant, to operating a motor vehicle without insurance, as well as defect notices for equipment violations. Drinkwater also said that one person was charged with driving while unauthorized and had their vehicle seized for 30 days, while two impaired drivers were taken off the road, issued sanctions, and had their vehicles impounded for the next month.
“Although the RCMP enforce all provincial and federal statues, we’re not experts when it comes to things like commercial vehicles, so we can defer to our sheriff counterparts. Same thing too as it’s hunting season and we can defer to Fish and Wildlife officers and vice versa also,” he noted. “Having us all together just makes the checkstop that much more productive.”
Across Alberta
Provincewide, Oct. 7-10, Alberta RCMP issued 2,653 tickets and noted there were no fatalities, although there were 21 collisions that resulted in injuries. In total, police handed out 1,328 speeding tickets, 18 excessive speeding charges (more than 50 km/h over the posted limit), 58 driving without a seatbelt charges, and 65 distracted-driving charges. Additionally, 88 impaired drivers were removed from the roadways.
Alberta RCMP also received 40 calls from the public notifying them of dangerous, or suspected impaired drivers, and 11 of these reports resulted in officers locating the vehicles, confirming that the drivers were in fact impaired, and then removing them from the road.
