Summer Impaired Driving campaign in effect now to July 31st

June and July are the most dangerous times of the year for impaired driving collisions in the province according to BC Highway Patrol.

For the first time ever in BC, their Summer Impaired Driving campaign has been shifted and will run from June 15 until July 31 instead of the previous timeline of June 15 to August 31.

Media Relations Officer Corporal Michael McLaughlin said they always try to be intelligence led in how they do their enforcement and their campaigns.

“We’ve looked at the data and June and July are the busiest, most dangerous months of the year for impaired driving fatalities and injuries.”

McLaughlin noted that impaired driving is something that BC Highway Patrol has to take seriously everywhere.

“So you can expect to see traditional Check Stops, and you can also expect to see marked vehicles doing pullovers and unmarked vehicles watching out for behavior that might lead to impaired driving investigations. We are laser focused on making sure we make our roads safer and impaired driving has to come down.”

He added that there are two streams with impaired driving enforcement.

“One is the Criminal Code stream which is what most people are familiar with where you get a charge through criminal courts, but we also have robust provincial penalties. You can lose your vehicle on the spot, it can be impounded, you can have serious financial consequences on the spot even for relatively minor impaired driving charges. So we encourage everyone to plan ahead, you don’t need this hassle, and you certainly don’t need the responsibility of hurting yourself or other people.”

McLaughlin reminds motorists to be particularly mindful that on those long weekends, those holidays, those special events, BC Highway Patrol knows there is a stronger likelihood of impairment and you’re going to see us out in force for those events.