Local Mounties charged 11 people — including one that crashed into a police car — with impaired driving last month.
Eight men and three women were arrested on impaired driving offences in August, according to a release from the Red Deer RCMP. The month saw a province-wide enforcement focus on impaired driving.
Five of those arrested and charged were found by police officers who were on patrol and observed erratic driving and other infractions. Five more arrests were the result of public calls of drivers suspected to be impaired, who were then located and arrested by police.
The final case occurred on Aug. 29 at 10 p.m., when an RCMP member encountered a car driving the wrong way on Ross Street. The driver collided with the police cruiser at a slow speed and was arrested. The person was charged with impaired driving and driving while suspended as a result of a previous impaired driving charge.
“If you make the dangerous decision to drive impaired, your luck will run out and we will catch you,” said Red Deer RCMP Sgt. Al Nickolson. “Red Deerians were fortunate these impaired drivers were taken off the road before innocent people were injured, or worse.”
Anyone wanting to report a suspected impaired driver call 911 with a licence plate, description of the vehicle and driver and the vehicle’s direction of travel.