RCMP perform a checkstop near the Perimeter Highway and Portage Avenue on December 2, 2011. (WPGCAMERAMAN / CHRISD.CA FILE)
The first week of the RCMP’s Holiday Checkstop Program has resulted in 36 people being charged with drunk driving.
Police released the statistics Tuesday, saying the highest blood alcohol reading recorded was 0.26 — more than three times the legal limit. The average reading was 0.162 — more than double the legal limit.
Police also issued 13 alcohol-related suspensions of 24 hours, charged 47 people for not wearing seat belts, issued seven charges under the Liquor Control Act, laid 610 Highway Traffic Act charges, and 11 other offences. During one of the stops, officers arrested a suspect wanted in a break and enter in the Fisher Branch area.
Compared to this time last year, the number of people charged for impaired driving is down. During the same period in the 2010/11 program, 49 people had been charged.
At least one fatality has taken place since the program began, when a 70-year-old man from the RM of Rockwood rolled his pickup truck near Stonewall on December 4.
