Drinking Driving CounterAttack Now Underway

Wednesday, December 01, 2010 03:58 AM

Prince George, B.C. – It is December 1^st, and that means the Drinking Driving CounterAttack is now officially underway.

From now until January 1^st, you can expect to see plenty of police cars on the roads, as they try to keep impaired drivers off the roads.

“We’re not telling people not to go out and enjoy themselves” says RCMP Sergeant Pat McTiernan, “We just want to make sure that if they decide to over indulge and get behind the wheel, if we stop them and they blow over the ‘warn’ level, we are going to take their car for three, seven or thirty days.”

McTiernan says at any one time, there could be up to 20 police vehicles on the road as part of the CounterAttack program and even folks who live in communities with smaller detachments should be wary. “We plan to provide help to the communities of McBride, Valemount , Mackenzie, Vanderhoof, you name it. So just because there is a small detachment, that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of CounterAttack activity.”

Last year, a four day blitz to launch the program saw more than 100 drivers hit with 24 hour suspensions, or impaired charges.

“We will be employing a number of strategies” says McTiernan, including the rolling road block “That’s where four or five police cars pull over 4 or 5 vehicles at a time, that’s in addition to the regular stop checks. And for sure we will have those side roads covered so people can’t drive around a road block.”

Sergeant McTiernan says with restaurants and bars indicating liquor sales are down since the new roadside sanctions for being over .05 or .08 came into effect, he is hoping people will have more “responsible” celebrations. “If we can’t find anyone who is over the limit, that’s a good thing.”

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Posted on Wednesday, December 01, 2010 03:58 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Give more on December 1 2010 1:26 PM

With that many police on the streets, maybe we will see more responsible driving too. Any infraction will be a reason to check drivers out for drinking and driving as well. Right on!

Posted by: Slim2229 on December 1 2010 2:52 PM

Hey Give, the only thing I wanna see is a fatality free month. I'm sure those professionals in emergency services would love to see it too.
Go git 'em, Queens cowboys, oh, guess there's cowgirls now too. GIVE'ER BULLETS.

Posted by: duffer on December 1 2010 3:42 PM

Let's bring more money into the government's pockets. They need it in order to hire more "cowboys" and "cowgirls". Oh wait, they need the money in general revenue.

Posted by: seamutt on December 1 2010 4:11 PM

Oh goody do we get to see more testosterone fueled commercials?

Posted by: bozo the clown on December 1 2010 4:14 PM

30 means 30 60 means 60 .merge means ,,, well ,,,it hurts to get hit i know soo.... drive carefull get home and be thankfull!booze, just has to stop.just imagine losing one of your own?it just makes no sense .get caught once ,,banned for 5, ya just have to really stop this

Posted by: Harbinger on December 1 2010 4:56 PM

No booze = No HST

No traffic tickets= no dough fer Victoria

No visiting casinos or buying lottery tickets (or fewer)= less moola fer Victoria

No smoking (or less)= less dough fer the Feds AND Victoria

Folks just have to smarten up a little bit and eventually they can/will put our provincial government into virtual bankruptcy.

Posted by: supertech on December 1 2010 5:06 PM

If we stopped all of this the government would be forced to find another avenue to aquire the same monthly revenue. Is that what we want? More stupid laws because the old ones are not being broken? Think about it---that is what would happen if everyone stopped drinking and driving.

Posted by: JohnGrogan on December 1 2010 6:41 PM

Some of the smaller communities mentioned in the article above do not have taxi services.

I for one do not drink and drive, not since the "TAKE THE CAR OUT OF CARNAGE" campaign launched in Prince George in the late 1970s by some ER Doctors.

If RCMPolice are expecting extra help in smaller communities, I would think that some of that help might include operating the Buffalo Cab Company to effectively serve and protect while outreaching to the law abiding public.

Posted by: Dragonmaster on December 1 2010 8:06 PM

Give More says...."Any infraction will be a reason to check drivers out for drinking and driving as well. Right on!"

So what you're saying is that they will be checking over 90% of the drivers on the road. Cause I guarantee 90% of the drivers in this town are constantly doing something stupid.

Posted by: Dragonmaster on December 1 2010 8:10 PM

Crashing your vehicle into someone while driving under the influence is no different than the way so many people drive these days, with their eyes closed.

Killing someone while driving impaired should have the same penalty as driving while not paying attention.

Dead is dead!

Posted by: Give more on December 2 2010 12:38 PM

Dragonmaster: I have to agree with you on 90% but

"Killing someone while driving impaired should have the same penalty as driving while not paying attention."???

What, 9 points and a $1000.00 fine???

I think a 5 year minimum driving prohibition would be in order for anyone caught driving impaired and if a collision occurs where people are killed or crippled for life it should be a lifetime ban and jail time.

People in general take driving responsibly far too lightly. It is a very big responsiblity, not only to yourself and your passengers but to everyone else on the road.
It has become a necessary part of our lives but needs to be viewed just as seriously as the safe handling of loaded guns. They are potentially deadly weapons. We don't put up with drunks on the street waving guns around, drunk drivers should be handled the same way.

This needs to reinforced into all new drivers. (And I guess the older ones too.)