ESTEVAN — Law enforcement agencies across the province put a lot of time and resources into battling impaired driving and keeping Saskatchewan communities safe every day. Their efforts increase even more during the holiday season.
For our Arrive Alive special section, the Mercury spoke to the Estevan Police Chief Rich Lowen about their impaired driving crackdown initiatives planned for December.
Lowen pointed out they plan to enforce laws and reward drivers for obeying the laws.
For the enforcement part, the EPS plans to amplify their regular patrolling by conducting several high-visibility check stops.
"Apart from regular patrols, what we are going to do for the month of December is increase our high visibility check stops," Lowen said. "We're going to be doing three high-visibility check stops in the area to try and focus on getting impaired drivers off the road."
When they decide on the check-stop location, they try to be at spots where they get good coverage for the city.
While the EPS doesn't announce details, such as dates and times for the high-visibility stops, Lowen said the public will see one occurring in Estevan on New Year's Eve for sure.
On the other hand, local police officers will be out doing positive ticketing in December, to reward the drivers that make the right choices.
"We'll have the Estevan Bears [U18 hockey team] helping us … they're going to be out with us one night handing out some rewards for people that are driving responsibly," Lowen explained. "And we'll also work in conjunction with MADD [Mothers Against Drunk Driving] and we'll have them out on some of our check-stops as well."
While a lot is done to get impaired drivers off the roads on a regular basis, Lowen noted that it still remains a serious problem.
"It's always a concern. Impaired driving is never something that we ignore, it's always something that we want to pay attention to," Lowen said.
He added that the impaired driving statistics for Estevan have been slightly down lately, which is good to see. But there are some negative tendencies that he notices as well.
"What's more concerning is you start seeing impairment by drugs going up a little bit. So we want to make sure we are getting the message out there. Whether it's [impairment] through alcohol or drugs, make sure you don't drive.
"If you have been drinking or taking any kind of substance, or even are tired or fatigued, make sure you find a different way.
"Find a way home through a cab, or find a way home through a friend, or spend the night where you need to. Be safe," Lowen said.
"And make sure everybody is safe for the holiday season. Be responsible if you're drinking."
