122 non moving violations. The highest of them all. It is not clear whether these include other subsets or whether these are additional.

Hard to move when one is in a line up.

;-)

the warnings were probably for pot, enough for an individual rather than for sale.

It's been a long time since I read the guidelines for the use of roadblocks, but it seems to me there was something about not being able to block every route out of town unless doing a "dragnet" type operation.

This I presume was a money making venture. i.e. fines. How about this much effort raiding crack shacks in the hood? What? That costs money? Hmmmm? I see.

Traffic Division = Tax Collection Division

Editors Note;

We had agreed to an embargo in the media until 11pm last night. The whole north division was holding meetings in the city this past week, and this is why they had so many people in town. Not to target King Of The Cage.
As for the rest of the comments, I leave up to you the readers.
It did give a very good look at what happens coming and going from the city on Friday nights.

Good show. It's about time that some of the bad habits of PG drivers were reined in. It doesn't matter what some people think the reasons for the blitz were, the bottom line is compliance with the laws of the road. If you have a problem with road checks make sure you use your seat belts, dont drink and drive, don't do drugs and drive and obey all laws. If you do thiese things you should be just fine. A little inconvenience of not getting to your destination as fast as you think you should is worth the safety of the populace.

A tactic used by fascist. Get us used to this, then they can start coming to your door and demanding to search your house. Will you complain then? The more power you give government to peer into your life the more they will take and take and take until you have no say over anything regarding your privacy. In England you're on camera every step and they're talking about a forced genetic "donation" so they can track everyone in the country, the excuse being of course that it's to fight crime and terrorism. How long until that hits here? What does freedom mean and what are you willing to do to keep yours?

What happened to the idea that a cop is suppose to see a violation and then act upon it, instead of this tactic which is the assumption that everyone pulled over is guilty and that they must prove they are innocent? If you can't see the difference we're headed the way of England for certain.

Old Hippy...you'd better think again. It isn't about being a good boy or girl and therefore not being worried about heavy handed government. It's about, and always has been, giving government too much power that they ALWAYS end up abusing terribly. How many examples would you like through the course of human history? It is not about the public, it's about putting too much power in the hands of institutions that are highly weak in staying humble and fair. The expression, " give them an inch and they'll take a mile" applies here. Think this through or be very sorry later.

True Kevin. Isn't "Check Stop" just a prettier way of saying "Check Point"?

You'd better hope your papers are in order, Comrades.

kevin seems a little worked up about a simple road block to check for impaired drivers and other violations of the law

kevin seems a little worked up about a simple road block to check for impaired drivers and other violations of the law

5000+ vehicles Stopped?


This seems a bit excessive..dare I say facist as well?

I am not sure whether ICBC is still involved with paying for these "blitzes", or partially paying for them.

It always feels good to be able to answer the question, "have you been drinking tonight?" truthfully with "yes".

It takes them a while to figure out it was not alcoholic beverages I was drinking.

;-)

I figured something was up?
I saw 5 different roadside checks and it wasn't even Xmas!!!!
Nice to see,give 'em hell!

C'mon Owl, you know who is paying for the shakedowns: we are!
I got stopped in one of these yesterday and made the mistake of telling the cop what I thought (clean language, normal tone of voice) Well, I have to apologize to the people in the line up behind me, you had to wait longer because of me. I had to show him i.d. and explain myself, he explained that they were looking for impaired drivers, and let me go without further hassle. Note to self; Next time, keep mouth shut. Do not speak unless spoken to. Yes sir. No sir. Thank you sir.
metalman.

Anybody have a more efficient way to catch impaired drivers, other than roadblocks?

I can't believe the crying on here. People cry when the cops appear to not be doing enough and they cry now when roadblocks are set up and drunks are taken off the road. It's rediculous.

yawn

6 impaireds out of over 5000 stops????
Sounds like a freakin' epidemic to me.

Now those six don't have an opportunity to kill someone with their vehicles.

I agree RUEZ.

"People cry when the cops appear no to be doing enough and they cry when roadblocks are set up and drunks are taken off the road."

6 less drunks on the road works for me.
Good work.

Legally impaired is not necessarily "drunk".

"Legally impaired is not necessarily "drunk".

What ev...

The semantics of "legally impaired" or "drunk" don't matter if either one of them hits and kills or disables you or a family member. Potatoe, potato.

One less drunk on the road works for me. I had my kids out at Kin 1 watching hockey last night and left before 10:00 because I hate having them on the road too late on a friday night especially with CN Centre being busy.

:)

hear hear REUZ! yeah haven't you guys been whining about the LACK of police presence??

Poor cops...almost gonna be treated like our politicians. lol

However, the only "fears" we MAY have is if we citizens don't stand up against poor govt...which is a completely diff topic from this one.

I like seeing these numbers. Sure are lots of unsafe vehicles/drivers on the road. But what are non-moving and moving violations? Any one know?

Maybe we should do a little experiment for those who like statistics and see the relationship of cause and effect.

With respect to potential cause of accidents I would think the following are most or all the key ones:

1. 20 moving violations
2. 30 - 24 hour suspensions due to alcohol
3. 7 - 24 hour suspensions due to drug
4. 9 administrative driving prohibitions
5. 6 alcohol impaired charges
6. 20 Vehicle defect charges with 82 warnings
7. 31 driver license charges
8. 122 non-moving violations charges with 10 warnings – maybe no up to date insurance as example?

How many accidents happened last night during and after the blitz?

How many accidents happen on average during that same time period on a Friday night over the last 52 Friday nights?

Of those accidents that happened, how many were caused primarily by infractions of the above categories?

We now have this snapshot. How does this compare to other such snapshots in the province or elsewhere in Canada? Is this normal or abnormal?

Note that there were 16 seat belt warnings out of 5,000+ vehicles. That is a 99.68% compliance rate. Does anyone think this is representational of the drivers? Is the compliance this high because this type of roadblock does not catch this type of infraction at anywhere near the rate this occurs?

There appear to be a total of 46 charges which deal with either alcohol or drug related impairment. That translates as 1% of the drivers. Would road blocks at a later time and in locations close to pubs and other drinking establishments find a higher number? Which would be the better way to stop drinking-driving?

2% of the vehicles stopped had defects – non functioning lights? Seat belts not operating or no seat belts?

The effect of defective vehicles as a cause or contributing cause of accidents is probably the least understood. 80% of the 102 defective vehicles found received only a warning. Obviously the RCMP is not serious about dealing with defective vehicles as a contributing or prime cause of accidents. Why?

I would love to see some sort of report on what conclusions and recommendations come out of that exercise. It would complete the study session the officers had, in my mind.

Then again, I suppose that is not the purpose from their point of view. Prevention, is really someone else’s responsibility.

Road checks, just an opportunity to snoop on the population.

I don't mind road checks, I have nothing to fear.

I am totally against road blocks in times of peace and a reasonable lack of justification. Owl summed up that part of it.

People that think checking 5,000 vehicles to catch 6 legally impaired, should have surveillance cameras installed in their homes so the police can watch how they live at home. You can never have too much surveillance for some people.

I wonder if any of the six charged for alcohol offenses were repeat offenders? I hear we've got a few loose cannons running around here with several impared's to their credit already, and they're still out there doing it again!!

Recently I heard about a law being contemplated or passed that will make seizure of the vehicle, and subsequent sale of same to the benefit of the taxpayer kitty, for repeat offenders !!
( three strikes - you're out kind of thing ).

Sounds like a legislation I'd support anyday.

palomino

You're right Palomino. Let's not get complacent about the danger of drinking and driving.
How would you like to be the family of that little 4 year old boy that died because the family car broke down on the Hart? This is not acceptable and it has to stop! Not everyone drives a newer car. We drive what we can afford. Even newer cars break down.
We have to get drinking drivers off the road.

I like the sound of the new law too.

There seems to be a big crackdown on cocaine users in this town in the past week or so... which is much needed, there is a major problem in this town.

I have seen three coke busts with plain closed cops pulling over what appeared to be know offenders on Queensway last two weeks. unmarked cars, plain closed cops, then dogs, the whole works. This town needs to be cleaned up, and its nice to see the police doing something about it.

I think the best way to clean up this town is for everyone to piss in a bottle each morning before they start to work at the office or plant and the company can send random samples in to the labs each day.

3 strikes and you're out.

1 strike and you loose your car if you drove yourself to work.

1 strike and you loose your job if you are a professional driver.

I hate beating around the bush with this sort of stuff. If you are serious, then get serious. Anything else is just playing games because you got to be seen doing something.

Let's take a page from the book of fundamentalist muslim nations on this drinking stuff.

;-)

Seriously though folks. Let's remember what this was, a classroom exercise by a group of people who were in a postion to take that exercise into the public domain without having to ask permission.

Just think how upset people would be if a bunch of UNBC students did a marketing study of origin-destination by putting up roadblocks to survey people out on a Friday night for their shopping, dining and TGIF pub crawling.

Like I said before...
Talk about a lock down! A police state. Meanwhile drug dealers are doing buisness, homes and buisness's are being broke into. Just a big hassle for most motorists.

Papers please! Sounds kind of like the olden days

War on drugs. There is always a war on something as an excuse to push around Joe public with the political flavour of the day.

The use of Road Blocks has to be shown to be productive, otherwise the public gets restless.

The stats are important. All the refuges are checked and a certain number are shot just to teach the rest of the refuges that they better not try to get away with anything!

Spending 25 minutes waiting to get through the check point is just a demonstration of their power and control for you to remember you are being watched.

I wonder how many of the anti road check commenters we have here would comlain the other way if the police weren't out there and a drunk seriously injured or killed a friend or family member..
If you have nothing to hide you have noting to worry about...
Give the police a break, they are only trying to protect our families and friends from those few who could care less about them.

wow i did not know we had soo many conspiracy theorists in town. You guys need to go actually live in a communist country for awhile and then perhaps you will appreciate living in Canada.Or just get a hobby, because apparently you have far too much time on your hands. The ones that complain the most,generally have the most to hide. Obey the law and conduct yourself appropriately and you will never have a issue with law enforcement, that is until some little crack head come and rips you off and then the whiners will complain the police did not come and help them fast enough.

I think our clean air is really starting to show it's effects on people.

good one ther NMG

Living with such an unreasonable paranoia must be terrible.

Well you know it's not paranoia if they really are after you!! Snicker.

I too question some of the paranoid rhetoric on this thread...it really makes you wonder about some peoples sense of "reality" and how their perceptions were formed...

ok let's not and say we did.

I think one of the stupidest laws being thought of is taking the car away. What kind of a hardship does that put on the rest of the family. This idea comes from the same idiots giving us carbon tax.

A lot of people need to look up the definition of fascism, soon. As for all the other police state rhetoric goes, well as another poster suggested: you all need something real to complain about. I for one am pretty concerned about some of the stats presented here. How many people out there with driving licence problems?
By the way, impaired is impaired. Try relying on semantics when your case comes up.
Also what has 'times of peace got to do with anything? How, exactly are the police supposed to catch people driving without licences without roadside checks? Or maybe some people think it is ok to drive with a suspension as long as you dont draw attention to yourself. Kinda defeats the purpose of revoking licences does it not?
I would like to see MORE , yes MORE traffic enforcement. One doesnt have to drive much to see people are getting lax with the rules and safety.

Obviously, seamutt, you've never had to bury one or more of your family members due to some drunk killing them because he "thought" he was a better drunk behind the wheel than all those other ones that have caused countless alcohol related crashes !

If you think seizing the vehicle of a repeat offender puts hardship on the drunk's family, maybe you should ask a family member who's Mom, Dad, Son or Daughter, never came home one day, and is now in the grave FOREVER, what HARDSHIP is all about !!

At least the drunk will come walking home. Every family out there who've lost a loved one to a some jerk who drinks and drives, would give ANYTHING to see their dead loved one have the option of doing that !!

Besides, when the drunk who's lost his vehicle due to several impaired's needs a vehicle to get himself down to the bar, he could always borrow yours !! It appears you don't seem to think we need to find a way to change his "right" to drink and drive that actually has some real teeth !!

I'd be interested to know what your solution to this problem would be.

So would a lot of other readers here no doubt!

palomino

In general, I am firmly on the side of the law, but reserve my right under the charter to express an opinion. Therefore, statements such as that by misterman ("those who complain the most generally have the most to hide"..) really rankle, though you could say that he/she/it has a right to express an opinion too. To the matter at hand; I appreciate that the authorities apparently have our collective welfare in mind when conducting such roadblocks as the ones we are currently debating, BUT, they admit that it was really an opportunity to practice flexing their muscles with all the extra manpower in town, and we already know that such initiatives are not common practice around here. My beef is that the authorities do not seem to be putting a lot of effort into eradicating the problem we have with gangs and illegal drugs. I am sure that there is more going on than we ordinary "non-members" are aware of, but what have we to judge 'them' by, other than results? They do not seem to be able to make a dent in the problem, low level busts are fine, but amount to the equivalent of a very small dog attempting to bring down a giant by biting at the cuffs of his trousers. The kingpins go on their merry way while their underlings are slapped on the wrist for trafficking.
In summary, if they really want to make a difference on the roads, have roadblocks every day, or every week, at random. That would have an immediate effect, we would become used to the inconveniance.
metalman.

IMO, the forces that be would have much better "catch" rates, if they were to setup roadchecks in and around the bar parking lots. You want to catch more drug dealers etc? Block doors at the bars during busy times and do pat downs on all the patrons as they leave. Doing it this way is no different than roadblocks, however it would take less manpower and would have greater results. Oh and can anyone answer WHY they don't check for impaired drivers when they leave the bar parking lots?

"I think one of the stupidest laws being thought of is taking the car away. What kind of a hardship does that put on the rest of the family. This idea comes from the same idiots giving us carbon tax"

I have to totally take a sh!t all over this statement. Having the experience of "nothing seems to stop them" and having the experience of "this was a totally needless tragedy", I have to say honestly, that I fear even taking the car won't work.

From experience, I expect the result to be that they borrow a car or buy a cheap beater or fix a car they have in their yard, or maybe resort to driving beaters so that they don't have to worry about it being forfeited.

You really have to have the experience of how difficult it is to keep "chronic drunk drivers" (they are most commonly the cause of fatals) off the road and how easily they seem to return the next day or next week.

This is the first time I did this and it is very interesting to read all the different comments. It is great. For me, I have lost my son and my brother to drunk driving accidents over the past few years. Since my son's tragic death, I have been lobbying the govenment for ligislative changes to really get tough on drunk drivers. It has taken a long time but the BC government finally moved on new legislation with the recent law that allows judges to conficate convicted drunk drivers vehicles. This is one of the suggestions that I have been lobbying for. my wish is that before I leave this earth, that our provincial and federal governments bring forward ZERO tolerance legislation. It is that simple. If you drink any amount of alcohol, you don't drive. Zero tolerence would also help in the courts. Good job by the police on Friday. Also maybe more roadblocks closer to the pubs and liquor stores.

The police are able to set up road checks at any given time at any location of their choosing. Basically they are looking to see if the driver has a proper license and vehicle registration. They can also assess the mechanical fitness of the vehicle and more importantly, check the sobriety of the driver. Besides the Criminal Code there are also other provincial statutes they can act upon during the course of the roadside check. It has been upheld in the Supreme Court of Canada. If you don’t like it, too bad. Any drunk taken off the road is worth the minor inconvenience of waiting in line. If this check was done in the rural areas there would probably be twice as many drunken hillbillies caught in the net. Good work