Police Checkstops On The Look Out For Drunk Drivers Over The Holidays

[Markham]

Hi guys

http://www.calgarybeacon.com/2010/12...-the-holidays/

Markham

[Supa Dexta]

What! They can do that?

[bjstare]

Law enforcement agencies throughout Alberta will target impaired drivers in coordinated Checkstops this holiday season. The message is clear say police: driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs will not be tolerated. In 2009, 112 people were killed and 1473 were injured in collisions involving drivers who had been drinking.
In addition to being a danger on the road, drivers who choose to drink or use drugs and drive also face serious legal, financial, and social consequences. This holiday season, remember the following:
Make the right choice for everyone – don’t drive if you have been drinking or using drugs.
You do not have to be legally drunk to be charged with impaired driving.
Plan ahead for safe transportation. There are alternatives to impaired driving.
If you encounter a suspected impaired driver, record the vehicle license plate number and dial 911 anywhere in the province.
December is impaired driving awareness month on the Traffic Safety Plan Calendar, and the Alberta government is reminding Albertans of the dangerous consequences of driving impaired.
Enforcement combined with strong education and awareness strategies are a central part of the Traffic Safety Plan, which also includes community mobilization, engineering and legislative enhancements.
Alberta also has several programs in place to tackle impaired driving such as the Ignition Interlock Program; the Alberta Administrative License Suspension Program; and zero tolerance for Graduated Driver Licencing drivers.

[civic_stylez]

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Supa Dexta
What! They can do that?

My gods! What kind of police state have we become!

[JRSC00LUDE]

You do not have to be legally drunk to be charged with impaired driving.

Sorry, but that is utter bullshit! I'm not for drunk driving but that sounds like complete garbage to me. What's next? You don't have to actually kill someone to be charged with murder?

"Excuse me sir, I know the law SAYS this but we decided to ignore that and charge you anyways because you seem prone to anger and could snap one day...."

[Tomaz]

Happens every year.

[rage2]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE
Sorry, but that is utter bullshit! I'm not for drunk driving but that sounds like complete garbage to me. What's next? You don't have to actually kill someone to be charged with murder?

You'll get charged if you look drunk, and fail the field test, even if you blow under 0.08.

Honestly, if I was legally drunk (0.08 BAC) and tried to drive I wouldn't be able to get out of the parking lot.

Traffic is a nightmare when they decide to do it, they did a checkstop on Crowchild yesterday and downtown was backed up through downtown all the way to the other end of downtown.

Today, they have one up out of downtown too, but I won't post where.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE


Sorry, but that is utter bullshit! I'm not for drunk driving but that sounds like complete garbage to me. What's next? You don't have to actually kill someone to be charged with murder?

"Excuse me sir, I know the law SAYS this but we decided to ignore that and charge you anyways because you seem prone to anger and could snap one day...."

Looks like Minority Report accurately predicted more than just the Xbox Kinect, lol. I think the "charge" is the 24 hour suspension.

[CMW403]

welp

guess it's time to start forcing the woman to drive.


EDIT:

You'll get charged if you look drunk, and fail the field test, even if you blow under 0.08. Honestly, if I was legally drunk (0.08 BAC) and tried to drive I wouldn't be able to get out of the parking lot. Traffic is a nightmare when they decide to do it, they did a checkstop on Crowchild yesterday and downtown was backed up through downtown all the way to the other end of downtown. Today, they have one up out of downtown too, but I won't post where.

Yeah I remember this last year when they did one after crowchild and stoney during rush hour. This made it kind of obvious because it was the day after the announcement during rush hour, so traffic was backed up all the way to downtown.

IMO, this kinda defeats the purpose because depending on how drunk the person is they may be able to figure out that there's a check stop up ahead because of all the extra traffic.

[atgilchrist]

Or they'll sober up by the time they actually reach the checkstop haha.

[95teetee]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE


Sorry, but that is utter bullshit! I'm not for drunk driving but that sounds like complete garbage to me. What's next? You don't have to actually kill someone to be charged with murder?

"Excuse me sir, I know the law SAYS this but we decided to ignore that and charge you anyways because you seem prone to anger and could snap one day...."

I (partially) took the 'you don't have to be legally drunk' part to mean you can be charged with impaired driving because of drugs too...

[DayGlow]

Originally posted by JRSC00LUDE


Sorry, but that is utter bullshit! I'm not for drunk driving but that sounds like complete garbage to me. What's next? You don't have to actually kill someone to be charged with murder?

"Excuse me sir, I know the law SAYS this but we decided to ignore that and charge you anyways because you seem prone to anger and could snap one day...."

To charge someone with impaired driving you need the evidence that their ability to drive is impaired by drugs/alcohol. Say you observe someone weaving in out of traffic, bouncing off the curb and then rear-ending a vehicle sitting at a light.

When you speak to the driver he has all the signs of impairment, glassy eyes, droopy eyelids, slurred speech, can't stand up, strong smell of booze on his breath. So you arrest him for impaired driving. You put him on a Breathalyzer and he blows right under .08.

Does that mean you apologize and put him back in his car and let him on his merry way? No, you still charge him with the impaired driving, but the separate charge of over .08 isn't applied.

[94boosted]

Originally posted by DayGlow


To charge someone with impaired driving you need the evidence that their ability to drive is impaired by drugs/alcohol. Say you observe someone weaving in out of traffic, bouncing off the curb and then rear-ending a vehicle sitting at a light.

When you speak to the driver he has all the signs of impairment, glassy eyes, droopy eyelids, slurred speech, can't stand up, strong smell of booze on his breath. So you arrest him for impaired driving. You put him on a Breathalyzer and he blows right under .08.

Does that mean you apologize and put him back in his car and let him on his merry way? No, you still charge him with the impaired driving, but the separate charge of over .08 isn't applied.

This is probably the best explanation I have heard for impaired driving vs. 0.08 Blood Alcohol Level.

[Redlyne_mr2]

I love how they still think that these daytime check stops actually do anything.

[CMW403]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
I love how they still think that these daytime check stops actually do anything.

uhh, care to expand?

[SJW]

It would make more revenue sense to make alcohol and driving 0.00

I'd fully support this to the end. Alcohol + vehicles = bad no matter how much u have in you. People push the limits anyway. Hell i've done it myself many times in the past. 4 beers, i'm ok. Meh it's been 3 hours, i'll have some more.

[ercchry]

so it is that time of year already where i might see one checkstop in the opposite direction that i am traveling in?

seriously... this city is piss poor at cracking down on drunk drivers

[SJW]

The real problem is that the penalties are not high enough.

[Tomaz]

Originally posted by ercchry
so it is that time of year already where i might see one checkstop in the opposite direction that i am traveling in?

seriously... this city is piss poor at cracking down on drunk drivers

I don't know how you are so lucky. I was stopped at 3 checkstops on Friday. Starting at 3 in the afternoon. it seems to be working.