It’s been a little more than a year since the Estevan Police Service (EPS) held its summit on impaired driving in the community, and police Chief Paul Ladouceur is pleased with how the community has responded to the issue.
The summit was held on Feb. 16, 2018, with about 30 people in attendance. It served as an opportunity for those present to discuss ways to curb the issue in Estevan.
People from a wide variety of agencies and organizations – law enforcement, education, health care, social services and more – were in attendance.
Ladouceur has long maintained that there would be a spike in impaired driving numbers before there would be a decline, because if the EPS threw a lot of resources at impaired driving, then they would catch more impaired drivers.
“We saw it go up a little bit, and then we’re starting to see that drop,” said Ladouceur.
There were 143 charges for impaired driving and other offences for exceeding the legal limit last year, down from roughly 160 in 2017.
The goal for 2019 is to continue to see impaired driving rates drop. There have been some cases already this year. Two alleged impaired drivers were apprehended during the Feb. 9 night shift.
“The last couple of weeks have been discouraging. We’ve seen quite a few impaired drivers,” Ladouceur said.
It’s particularly concerning when those alleged impaired drivers have a young child in a vehicle, or if they are involved in an accident.
Since last year’s meeting, a new chapter of Mothers Against Impaired Drivers has been started in Estevan, with Connie Hagel serving as the chapter volunteer co-ordinator.
“Connie Hagel is doing a fantastic job with that, so we’re very proud of the work that she is doing.”
The EPS also started to release the names of people charged with impaired driving, with those names appearing in the Mercury. Other police services across the country have also started publicizing the names of individuals charged with impaired driving, hoping that it will serve as a deterrent.
“This is a case where enough is enough, and we have to really get the community involved,” said Ladouceur.
Licensed establishments have done a good job of co-operating with police to make the EPS aware of potential impaired drivers leaving their businesses, and being responsible in the service they’re providing.
The bulk of the recommendations from last year’s meeting have been implemented and Ladouceur can’t think of any key ones that haven’t been brought in. The EPS is always open to new idea or “out of the box thinking” when it comes to reducing impaired driving in the community.
The goal would be to have another meeting at some point in the future.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” said Ladouceur. “When we start to see the numbers go down, that’s what we want to see. We just have to keep working to get it there.”
Impaired driving is the No. 1 criminal cause of death in Canada, he said, and so the EPS can’t relent on the issue.
He pointed out the EPS will also continue to fight issues such as distracted driving, which is also a leading cause of fatalities on the road.
“I can tell you there will be more distracted driving blitzes from this police service in 2019. We will also be doing very unique things in trying to detect those people who are driving while texting.”
