Pandemic or not, Winnipeg police still cracking down on drunk drivers this holiday season

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and Manitoba’s code red restrictions, everything about the holiday season looks a little different this year — including the Winnipeg Police Service’s annual checkstop program.

Police said Friday that officers will be “out in force” throughout the city over the holidays, although they won’t be relying on defined checkpoints as they have in past years.

According to police, there have already been nine impaired driving charges laid this month, despite restrictions on social gatherings and bars being closed due to provincial health orders. Four of those charges involved collisions.

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All of the drivers — adults between the ages of 25 and 41 — had a blood alcohol level at least twice the legal limit, with one driver having more than three times the limit.

1:37 Impaired driver sentenced for hitting, killing 15-year-old Winnipeg boy