Weekend police roadblocks net 15 impaired drivers
A woman who almost slammed into another car stopped at a checkpoint was one of 15 impaired drivers nabbed by Victoria police over the weekend.
Officers were stationed on Blanshard Street near Finlayson Street on Friday night when they saw a woman speeding toward the roadblock at about 1:50 a.m., said Victoria police spokesman Const. Matt Rutherford. The roadblock was part of ICBC’s summer CounterAttack campaign.
Officers yelled at the driver to slow down and she came to an abrupt stop just short of rearending another vehicle, said Rutherford, who was working that night.
“My heart rate went up thinking someone was going to be injured by her,” he said.
The woman in her 20s was argumentative, telling the officers she was picking up a friend who was drunk, and insisting she was fine to drive.
“She was actually very intoxicated and not fine to drive,” Rutherford said.
The woman failed a breathalyzer test, so her car was impounded for 30 days and she will lose her licence for 90 days.
Another driver failed a roadside screening test after driving past the checkpoint, despite police cruisers with their hazard lights on and officers in high-visibility vests. An officer pulled him over a few metres down the road.
The driver was apologetic and admitted he was in the wrong. He also failed a breathalyzer test.
Rutherford said 15 impaired drivers ticketed over a single weekend is higher than for previous weekends this summer.
“One is too many,” he said. “There’s no excuse for not being able to drive safely. There’s taxis, buses, dial-a-driver.”
Rutherford said impaired drivers not only put other drivers at risk, they endanger officers working at roadblocks.
A week and a half ago, Saanich police officers had pulled over a suspected drunk driver when another impaired driver, with only a learner’s licence, slammed into one of the police cruisers.
The 31-year-old Saanich woman who hit the cruiser is facing impaired-driving charges and a ticket for driving contrary to restriction.