35 impaired driving incidents in 2nd week of Winnipeg holiday checkstop program

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Peggy

Winnipeg police are reporting what they’re calling “alarming” numbers following the second week of their annual holiday checkstop program.

Police reported 35 impaired driving incidents during the week, including one involving a driver who had a five-year-old child in the back seat.

The numbers are not just a safety concern, but “a call to action,” the Winnipeg Police Service said in a Tuesday social media post.

The second week of the program, which launched Dec. 3 and runs throughout the month, saw 1,018 vehicles stopped, with 3.43 per cent of drivers stopped being impaired, police said.

That resulted in six impaired driving charges and issued 29 immediate roadside prohibitions. Police also gave 37 traffic offence notices, executed one warrant and had one motorist test positive for cocaine.

During the program’s first week, police stopped 1,219 vehicles and reported 21 roadside warnings or breathalyzer failures. They issued 12 traffic offence notices and laid two charges for impaired driving.

The national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada said the Winnipeg police are “very similar to what we’re hearing from police services across the country.”

“There’s just a disturbing number of people who just aren’t getting the message that impaired driving is wrong,” said Tanya Hansen Pratt.

“So we need to repeat the message over and over again until people finally understand that driving while impaired, whether by alcohol or drugs, is not safe, and they will get caught.”

Woman talking on a Zoom call. — ‘No one ever thinks they’ll go to jail,’ but drivers need to understand that if they drive impaired, they will get caught, says MADD Canada president Tanya Hansen Pratt. (Giuliana Grillo de Lambarri/CBC)

She believes Manitoba has “robust impaired driving laws,” but says there’s always room for improvements.

With the holiday season in full swing, her message to Canadians is fourfold:

Don’t drive impaired.
Never get into a vehicle with a suspected impaired driver.
Plan ahead.
Call 911 if you suspect an impaired driver.

“I think it’s really important to understand that people don’t get behind the wheel and think, ‘You know what, I might get charged today if I do this,'” Hansen Pratt said.

“No one ever thinks they’ll go to jail. No one thinks they’re going to take someone else’s life or cause catastrophic injury.”

As of Dec. 11, Manitoba Public Insurance says 13 people had been killed and 86 others injured on Manitoba roads due to impaired driving this year.

As well, 2,164 drivers have been caught driving impaired so far this year, MPI told CBC in a statement. All of them would have received a penalty on their driver safety rating, which impacts premiums for all Manitoba drivers, MPI said.

A roadside study from 2022 found the number of drivers testing positive for alcohol jumped from 0.6 per cent in 2016 to 3.6 per cent in 2022.

Winnipeg police said drivers can expect to see a heightened enforcement of impaired driving legislation for the final two weeks of December.