If you plan to imbibe intoxicating beverages be sure to find someone else to get behind the wheel.
That's the message from Cpl. Michael Benjamin, team leader of the North West Region Traffic Services of the RCMP.
The six-member unit, which operates out of North Battleford, has a zero tolerance approach towards impaired driving, according to Benjamin.
He describes the unit's primary duty as the detection and removal of impaired drivers from the roadways.
The unit's patrol area extends from the Battlefords area as far north as La Loche and from the Alberta border to the Spiritwood area.
The unit members take their duty seriously as impaired driving is the number one cause of criminal death in Canada.
"For members of NWRTS, impaired drivers are considered ticking time bombs who roam our roadways waiting to strike at innocent road users and inflict needless injury and death to their victims," says Benjamin.
NWRTS uses conventional and non-convention methods to detect impaired rivers. To date more than 70 impaired drivers have been detected by the members.
"This number is reflective of a serious problem, not only in the Northwest, but throughout the province and nationally," Benjamin observes.
Over the August long weekend the unit was able to detect 10 impaired drivers. These were detected during the daylight hours when most road users are on their way to work, dropping children off at daytime activities or running errands around town.
Many of the impaired drives state they feel safe to be driving and decided to take the risk.
"Without fail, when advised that their vehicle is going to be impounded the drivers state they could find a sober drive to come and pick up the vehicle," Benjamin reports.
"Our response is, 'the time to find a sober driver is before you drink and drive, not after you are stopped by police.'"
Benjamin says the unit members are proud of their accomplishment but are unhappy the issue continues to be a serious problem even though many enforcement and educational programs are set up to deter impaired driving.
The team leader says NWRTS will continue to aggressively detect and apprehend impaired drivers and asks the general public to help in making the roads safer. He offers these rules to live by: if you drink do not drive; if you are driving and observe and impaired driver call the police immediately by dialing 911 or RID, which is the provincial report Impaired Drivers Initiative; wear your set belt; and always stop where a stop sign or red light is located.
"You may be the safest driver in the world but the vehicle hurtling toward you may just be one of those ticking time bombs waiting to go off," Benjamin says.
