Conservation Officers and RCMP will be patrolling  waterways and highways – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – With half of all impaired driving fatalities in B.C. happening in the summer (46%) RCMP and Conservation Officers will be  checking the waterways and the highways to make sure everyone gets home safely.

“Operating a motorboat while impaired is a criminal offence, just like driving a vehicle” says  Prince George RCMP Traffic Services  head Sgt. Matt LaBelle.

Too often,  enjoying a day on the lake or river, involves  some  alcohol, or  drugs.  Those  people then  get behind the wheel of their vehicle to  head home after a day of sunshine and beverages or drugs.  “We will be  conducting sobriety checks around our lakes and rivers to ensure that boaters and drivers are being responsible” says Sgt. LaBelle.

“Traffic Services are  dedicated to reducing  death and injuries on the highways, and waterways are no different” says Cpl Madonna Saunderson of the North District Regional Provincial Traffic Services Section.  ” If you are going to be out taking part in a fun day with your boat,  then you have  to be sober, just as  you would behind the wheel of your car.  If you’re not, then you face the same penalties as you would if you  were driving down the highway in your pick up or car.  Impaired driving while operating a boat carries the same penalties as  impaired driving operating a  vehicle.”

Cpl. Saunderson says  enforcement will be dedicated to the waterways  and ensuring people are  safe when they are on the water, “And that they plan ahead and have a safe ride home, ’cause   if you’re going to float down the river  or be a passenger in a boat and a have a beverage or two while you’re out there,  then plan ahead and have a safe ride home.   Certainly if you are the driver, you have to remain sober.”