The Airdrie RCMP conduct Checkstops year round, but their efforts pick up during the busy Christmas season.

Constable Matt Gervais says so far in December, the number of impaired drivers they've taken off the road has been on par with previous years.

"For the holiday Checkstop campaign, we've charged 14 drivers for either blowing over the legal limit or simply refusing to supply breath samples. One is too many, 14 is still kind of too high for what we'd like to see but it's nothing that we don't see on a year to year basis."

Gervais says they've done a variety of Checkstops over the past three Saturdays.  "We've taken the Checkstop trailer out and had it in different locations.  As well, we've done small pop up type Checkstops for different events. When we know a Flames game is on, we've done random Checkstops in different areas, as well as doing just high vehicle stops during the nighttime."

With Canada's move to legalize marijuana next July, we asked Gervais if they've found more drivers who are impaired by taking drugs. He says, while he can't speak for the whole Airdrie detachment, he personally is seeing an increase in the number of drivers that are impaired by drugs.  

"I have issued a few more 24-hour suspensions for being under the influence of drugs.  I haven't seen an increase as far as being fully impaired by drugs where their full ability would be impaired.  Definitely, I have seen an increase where marijuana or other types of drugs have been involved where they've been taken recently enough that I felt their ability was still impaired enough that it meets the 24-hour suspension requirements." 

Gervais says, with Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve falling over the next two weekends, holiday Checkstops will continue.

"We continue to do Checkstops year round. Most people associate Checkstops during the holiday time. We'll be ensuring that people find a sober ride or use a taxi or car share services. We'll be having different types of Checkstops throughout the holiday season. Just hoping that people are educated enough to know that it's a poor decision to get behind the wheel after drinking or using any types of illicit drugs."

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