'We need to stop this': WPS, RCMP stepping up enforcement to target impaired drivers
Manitoba RCMP and Winnipeg Police Service are teaming up to step up enforcement to catch impaired drivers on roadways.
The joint forces initiative is to mark National Impaired Driving Enforcement Day.
Officers with both the RCMP and the WPS will be targeting impaired drivers at different locations in and around Winnipeg, while Mounties will be doing further enforcement in rural Manitoba.
RCMP Inspector Joe Telus says in RCMP jurisdictions, 1,396 impaired drivers have been taken off the road so far this year.
“It's time to realize this is not about people being uneducated as to the risk. It is about people making choices, and some people are still making poor, poor ones,” he said.
The Winnipeg Police Service said it is also launching and operating its annual check stop program during December.
Inspector Doug Roxburgh, commander of the WPS central traffic division, said the 2021 check stop program revealed some ‘troubling numbers,’ with an average blood alcohol concentration that was double the legal limit.
“Our highest was 330 milligrams per cent. To put it in perspective, 350 milligrams per cent, we hospitalize people. It's problematic,” he said.
The average age of impaired drivers caught by WPS last year was 40. The youngest was 18, and the oldest was 66.
Roxburgh said 86 per cent of impaired drivers were male.
His division has seen some concerning numbers in 2022, as well, with an increase in serious or fatal collisions. The inspector noted they are investigating up to 40 collisions currently, resulting in 24 deaths.
“We need to stop this. We want everyone to have a safe holiday season,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.