REGINA – Regina police worked to get impaired drivers off the roads Saturday night as part of the Operation Overdrive program.
“Intox. driver hit complainant’s vehicle, complainant thinks the driver is trying to leave, so we’ll go over there,” said Sgt. Ian Barr, briefly summarizing the main points of the incident report on his car’s computer screen.
Barr then drove to the driver’s car, located on the eastbound lane of Victoria Avenue between Star Lite Street and Coleman Crescent.
The empty vehicle was heavily damaged at the front.
All things considered, “this is a pretty good outcome of an impaired driving collision. Nobody was hurt,” said Barr, who works in the traffic unit.
The driver is now facing a number of charges, including impaired driving, failing to comply with a breath demand, and two counts of a hit and run.
A tow truck removed the car shortly after 10 p.m.
Barr said that catching impaired drivers isn’t an exact science – the aforementioned driver wasn’t caught through the program – but Operation Overdrive does make an impact.
The end results of one night of the program can range from just licence suspensions – “maybe one or two of those really slow night to, we’ve had up to five, six charges in a four-hour period,” he said.
The program is run about 25 times a year for five hours at a time. Nine officers, some using unmarked cars, are normally involved. They patrol the city, paying particular attention to hot spots (areas with bars and nightclubs), and act on tips from the Report Impaired Drivers program.
“It’s Christmas party season, it’s Saturday night, so that’s why we’re out here,” said Barr, who has been an officer for nearly 18 years.
Check stops were the primarily method used in the program two decades ago, but with social media helping people avoid them, the mobile version is now the one most used. Subsequently, fewer vehicles are stopped.
“But unfortunately a higher percentage of those vehicles have some kind of drinking and driving activity,” said Barr.
The mobile version is “more effective” compared to its counterpart, he added.
Impaired driving offences have dipped from a five-year high of 812 in 2010; as of October 2014, there had been 637, just 11 offences fewer from the entire year before.
“It will more than likely exceed that combination of charges that was for 2013,” said Sgt. Colin Glass, who works in the Traffic Safety Unit, of this year’s upcoming results.
The final tally is not indicative of a rise impaired driving overall, he stressed, just that more people are getting caught.
Along with the previously mentioned charges, the outcome of Saturday’s Operative Overdrive included seven breath tests, four issued tickets, 25 car stoppages, one roadside license suspension, and one car being impounded.
“I have also had to be the one to go knock on somebody’s door and be every mother’s worst nightmare and tell them that their child has been killed in a car crash,” he said.
He credits that kind of experience as the worst part of his job; also troubling is the fact that all cases and their sometimes tragic outcomes are “completely preventable.”
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