The Heritage Day weekend is here which means two things.  One: you very likely get an extra day off, and two: there is going to be an awful lot of people driving to reach holiday weekend destinations.  

The RCMP are once again reminding everyone to make safety a priority on the holiday weekend and Sgt. Darrin Turnbull says there will be an increased police presence on the holiday weekend.

"August long weekend is one of those weekends when RCMP and the Alberta Traffic Sheriffs work together to ensure public safety on the roadways, so we will have increased patrols and everybody that we can out working, doing checkstops and things like that trying to keep people safe."

This weekend the police have an increased focus on impaired driving which Turnbull says is an ongoing problem on long weekends.  "We do see an increase of impaired driving on holiday weekends so we're very cognizant of that fact and very strategic in our planning of where and when we'll be out looking for impaired drivers.  We want you to have a good time but plan ahead and be safe.  If you're going to a remote location and you're going to be drinking, you know that you're not going to be able to get a ride home, so spend the night or have some other safe ride home."

A situation that drivers don't usually have to face on the long weekend will be reduced visibility due to smoke from wildfires burning in B.C., particularly on highways close to the mountains.  Turnbull says you should be prepared for those conditions and treat them much like you would driving in the winter.

"You've got to give yourself extra space between yourself and the driver in front, reduce your speeds, make sure you're paying attention, leave the phone alone, watch what's happening in front of you and leave yourself lots of time to get where you're going."

When it comes to paying attention, Turnbull says there are many things that can take our attention from the road, not just your cell phone.  "We've seen everything from people reading a book, watching a movie on an iPad, eating with two hands holding a bowl of soup in one hand and a spoon in the other. Who's driving?"

In the southern part of the province, use of Off-Highway Vehicles is restricted because of fire bans but they can still be used in other parts of the province.  Turnbull says it's important to remember to ride responsibly.  "Make sure that you're wearing a helmet to keep yourself safe and make sure you're sober."  That goes for boating as well.  "If you're out in a boat make sure you have all the proper safety equipment and life jackets for everybody and make sure you're sober.  Last August long weekend in Alberta the RCMP charged two people with impaired boating."

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