MADD expresses concerns over driving high
Don’t drive stoned, MADD warns
The threat of cannabis-impaired driving has Mothers Against Drunk Driving “deeply concerned” about the effect it could have on the province’s roads.
“Society has not yet bought in that impaired is impaired, whether it’s from alcohol or drugs,” Amanda Sawatzky said at Edmonton city police headquarters Friday for the launch of the annual Project Red Ribbon campaign.
The campaign, which runs until January, encourages people to tie a red ribbon to their belongings to symbolize their commitment to safe and sober driving.
Barney Stevens, head of the city ’s Curb the Danger program, said the legalization of cannabis “adds to the complexity” of impaired driving.
“People who have the propensity to drink and drive or consume drugs and drive … should remember that not only are the police out looking for you, but the eyes of the community are out there as well,” said Stevens, who helped launch this year’s ribbon campaign.
Close to 110,000 reports of impaired drivers have been logged by Curb the Danger since it started in 2006.
About 30 per cent of the average 800 calls a month to the program — where members of the public report possible impaired drivers — turn out to be an impaired driver, Stevens said, proving that “the community is getting pretty darn good” at spotting drivers under the influence.
Interim Edmonton Police Service Chief Kevin Brezinski added that despite repeated attempts at education and intervention, impaired driving continues to be a major problem in the city.
“We see it with frustrating regularity,” he said, adding that impaired driving is a “senseless and preventable act.”
He said it is “baffling” that despite all of the options to avoid driving impaired, there are people out there who still put the public and themselves at risk.
Brezinski also warned that there will be extra Checkstops around the city this year. So far in 2018, city police have made just over 1,000 impaired driving arrests and laid more than 1,800 charges.
On average, that’s more than three people a day being arrested for the crime in Edmonton alone, he said.