New provincial legislation shrinking the drivers’ impairment limit to .06 from .08, and allowing for more measures of enforcement, is responsible for more than doubling the number of Criminal Code driving offences in Cranbrook over the last quarter (April to June), compared to 2010.

Corporal Pat Prefontaine, Cranbrook RCMP detachment A/Operations NCO, reading a July 21 second quarter (April to June) Mayor’s Report, told City of Cranbrook council August 15 that there has been a 64% increase in Criminal Code offences involving impaired driving.

“Forty-one drivers were charged with Criminal Code driving offences this quarter, compared to 25 drivers during the same quarter last year, a healthy increase as a direct result of the new legislation,” Cpl. Prefontaine said.

“In the first six months of 2010, there were 54 impaired charges pursued via criminal court attendance and 48-24 hour suspensions given for a total of 102 drivers taken off (the road). The enforcement in 2010 resulted in 27 of the drivers’ vehicles impounded.”

Noting that the drinking and driving laws had “changed quite drastically in the fall of 2010, Prefontaine told council that the way RCMP administrate “the news laws is totally different than previously done before the change.”

With that in mind, he informed council that Cranbrook detachment officers have removed 127 drivers from the roads in the first six months of the year, with six being charged with impaired driving in criminal court. A further 63 drivers have received 90 day driver’s license suspensions and impoundments of vehicles. Twenty-one drivers were handed 72 hour driving suspensions and either three/seven or 30 day-vehicle impoundments and 24 drivers received 24 hour suspensions, with no vehicle impoundment. A total of 97 vehicles were impounded in the first six months of the year.

Adding to those statistics, Prefontaine pointed out the fact that the East Kootenay Traffic Services detachment is based on Theatre Road, in Cranbrook.

“In the first six months of 2010 the unit charged 18 drivers with impaired driving, issued 12-24 hour driving suspensions and conducted six drug investigations. In the first six months of 2011, the unit charged 35 impaired drivers, up 94.4%,” he said, adding nine 24 hour suspensions were issued and seven drug investigations were conducted.

In other driving offence news, Cpl. Prefontaine reported that 185 provincial traffic violation tickets were issued in the last quarter, an 8.2% increase over the 171 issued last year.

“And there was a large increase in warnings,” he said, noting a 75.5% increase, with 597 provincial traffic warnings (tail lights etc.) in the last quarter compared to 340 last year.

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

Article Share