Taber Police vehicle. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Taber Police pleased at numbers for holiday check stops

Jan 17, 2020 | 1:14 PM

TABER, AB – Over the holiday season, Taber Police Service stopped a total of 479 vehicles, issuing some form of violation to approximately 6.5% of drivers.

Chief Graham Abela has released statistics for the December 2019 Traffic Step Program, which saw a series of 10 check stops in the final month of the year.

He says there were not any numbers in particular that stood out as being exceptionally high.

“We checked almost 500 vehicles and we only arrested two individuals for impaired driving. Two is too many, but from the perspective of those stats, I think the public’s actively not drinking and driving, so that’s a good thing.”

Screenings were conducted on 336 out of 479 vehicles.

WHAT'S ON

Medicine Hat Public Library hosting second annual local authors meet and greet on Saturday

6h ago

WHAT'S ON

Here is what's on this weekend in Medicine Hat and area: Nov. 15-17

Nov 15, 2024

LIVE UPDATES

Road construction, detours and traffic in Medicine Hat

Nov 15, 2024

Of those, as Chief Abela mentioned, two drivers were arrested for impaired driving – both of which were for alcohol impairments.

Two people had their driver’s licenses suspended, six were issued liquor violations, three were issued traffic violations, and one was given a cannabis violation.

“The cannabis violation we dealt with during our season was a possession of cannabis in the vehicle. As you know, you’re not allowed to convey cannabis within reach of an occupant of a vehicle and that’s the ticket there. To my knowledge, we didn’t have any investigations involving impaired driving by cannabis.”

There were also 15 traffic warnings and two liquor warnings.

Abela says they take the mandatory alcohol screening process very seriously, especially as he claims they have proven to be effective at reducing the overall number of incidents of impaired driving in other jurisdictions.

For anyone who plans to consume alcohol, cannabis, or any other impairing substance, the police chief asks that you make arrangements for a safe ride home while you are still sober.

Drivers in the Taber area can expect more check stops and mandatory alcohol screenings to continue.