On Friday night Const. Matt Rutherford found himself in a potentially dangerous situation.
The Victoria police officer was helping conduct a ICBC counter attack to catch impaired drivers around 2 a.m. in the 3000-block of Blanshard Street, when a woman nearly drove through the roadblock.
Officers, who were wearing fluorescent vests, yelled at her to stop. While she was able to brake in time, the driver could have rear-ended the vehicle in front of her or hit one of the reserve constables who were assisting with the roadblock.
B次元官网网址淢y heart rate got elevated B次元官网网址� that driver had no remorse for her actions,B次元官网网址� Rutherford said, noting she was in denial about her level of impairment, and later took a breathalyzer test and failed.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 disappointing. Every police department in the [Capital Regional District], as well as Canada, has talked about the negative effects of impaired driving and to think that those are the ones we caught over the weekend, IB次元官网网址檓 confident thereB次元官网网址檚 probably people we didnB次元官网网址檛 catch.B次元官网网址�
The impaired driver was one of 15 Victoria police took off the roads over the weekend B次元官网网址� a number Rutherford called concerning. Police also caught a driver around 12:30 a.m. who didnB次元官网网址檛 see the VicPD vehicles with their hazard lights on and drove past the roadblock.
According to Rutherford, the driver had been out celebrating his wedding anniversary and had too many drinks, but was remorseful for his actions.
Over the weekend, our officers removed 15 impaired drivers (either by drugs or alcohol) off roads. Very disappointing for us to see
B次元官网网址� Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada)
Despite repeated impaired driving campaigns, Rutherford said, police pull over drivers who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, at at all times of the day.
B次元官网网址淧eople need to get the message that drinking and driving, and driving with some level of impairment is completely unacceptable,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲e saw someone in their 20s, another person we stopped was in their 30s or 40s and someone was in their 50s. ItB次元官网网址檚 not a generational gap. WeB次元官网网址檙e still seeing people from all different age groups driving impaired.B次元官网网址�
On average, 66 people die in impaired driving-related crashes in B.C. a year, according to . Impaired driving penalties range from suspensions of 24 hours to 90 days, vehicle impoundment, fines between $600 and $4,000, and in some cases the installation of an ignition lock in the vehicle.
