Red Deer City RCMP will be out in full force on New Year’s Eve.
Cpl. Kathe DeHeer, with the Red Deer City RCMP, said police plan to have CheckStops up around the City of Red Deer throughout New Year’s Eve to keep the roads safe.
DeHeer advises that if residents are going to be drinking, they should plan ahead to get a taxi, a ride with a sober friend or take public transit to get home safely.
A new poll by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation suggests many Canadians now regularly consider alternatives to drinking and driving.
Around 14 per cent of people said they would use public transit to get home after drinking, 19 per cent consider taking a taxi, 48 per cent get someone else to drive and 30 per cent said they waited a few hours to sober up, according to the survey completed in October and November and released just before Christmas.
DeHeer said New Year’s Eve certainly is a busy night and police often see a lot of impaired drivers and more domestic disputes because some people drink too much.
“Most of the things that we are involved in tend to involve alcohol on New Year’s Eve so we gear ourselves accordingly towards this, looking out for impaired drivers. We are encouraging people to leave their vehicles at home and take a cab or an arranged ride and if somebody is the designated driver, we do encourage people not to drink,” DeHeer said.
She said many people think they can consume one drink an hour and not be impaired, but it isn’t necessarily the case. “The best and safest way to avoid getting an impaired driving charge on New Year’s Eve is, if you’re driving don’t drink at all.”
She also reminded those with graduated licences that if they consume alcohol then they stand to lose their licence for an extended period because there are stricter provisions for alcohol consumption while driving for those with graduated licences.
Impaired driving continues to be an issue across the country. When asked if they’d driven after consuming alcohol in the past 30 days, 24 per cent of Canadians polled said they had in the Traffic Injury Research Foundation poll done in 2010.
That’s up from 14.7 per cent of people who said they had in 2005.
However, the public is starting to get fed up with the practice. The norm now is to speak up when people see an individual about to drive while impaired by alcohol. The poll suggested 87 per cent of Canadians now speak up to stop an impaired driver.
“Our wish is that everybody gets home safely without any problems,” DeHeer said.
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com