It's a trend that's been showing up throughout the year in Estevan: impaired driving is on the rise.
At each meeting, the Estevan board of police commissioners receives crime statistics which track criminal charges and other infractions on a monthly and yearly basis. Right from the start of 2023, impaired driving charges have been on the rise.
As of Sept. 30, 91 charges for impaired driving and exceeding-related offences have been issued, compared with 58 in the first nine months of 2022. That's an increase of more than 50 per cent, which is pretty substantial.
We've also seen an increase in the number of charges for impairment by drug from 11 to 14.
One thing that has to be remembered is that in most cases there are two charges for an impaired driving infraction, one for impaired driving and another for driving while over .08. So, the number of impaired drivers removed from our streets would likely be lower than 91. And the number of impaired drivers apprehended in 2022 might represent a low-water mark for the crime, as the five-year average for the first eight months of the year was at 66.
But still, any increase in impaired driving should be a source for concern.
The message about the risks of drunk driving has been ingrained in our minds from an early age. Even before we're able to drive, we know the risks of impairment by drugs and alcohol, thanks to presentations in school, advertising campaigns, conversations with parents and even mock accident scenes at schools.
And the various levels of government have been trying to crack down on impaired driving and have created stiffer penalties over the years. There is no excuse for driving while impaired. If you're able to get a driver's licence, then you should be smart and mature enough to know when you've had too much to get behind the wheel.
There's also no single reason for why the number of charges is up. Is it because more people have decided to start ignoring the messages we've heard over the years about drunk driving, or people are deciding to risk driving while impaired? Perhaps, although most people are still smart enough to know how to find a safe ride home.
Is it because there has been a greater emphasis by members of the Estevan Police Service to get these criminals off the road? Again, that can be the case. But it is troubling to see that the numbers show one or two drunk drivers are getting pulled over each week.
If there is a renewed crackdown by the EPS, then that's great, but perhaps we should never find ourselves in a situation in which a greater emphasis is needed.
Those who lived in the community a decade ago will remember the high number of impaired drivers that Estevan used to have. It was a very troubling situation. Yes, we were in boom times and there were people from out of town coming here to work with no connection to the community, but there were a lot of people from Estevan getting arrested for driving while impaired.
We saw efforts in the past decade to curb impaired driving, ranging from checkstops to meetings to the formation of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter in Estevan.
Fortunately, our numbers aren't as high as they were, but one impaired driver is one too many.
Christmas is fast approaching. That means parties, social outings and other fun events associated with that time of year. It means people will be out drinking. And it means the local police will be out looking for drunk drivers.
Hopefully, we won't see a spike in the number of drunk drivers in the next two months.
And hopefully this year's rise in impaired driving will be a one-year blip, rather than a start of a new trend.
