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By Darren Rathwell

Hatters commended following few charges in holiday checkstops

Jan 18, 2022 | 4:54 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat police were out with checkstops over the holidays again, but numbers of impaired driving charges were so low that Hatters are being commended for their safe driving.

Over four separate occasions, police held roving checks in the city, during which a police unit would pull over vehicles in random locations.

In all, about 200 vehicles were checked. Of those, only two motorists faced impaired driving-related charges, while one driver was given a warning.

Police say they decided against putting on the more traditional static checkstops over the holiday season.

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“It’s one of those things we like to mix it up a little bit, because, we want to make sure we can have contact with as many vehicles as we can. And lots of times when you do those static ones people come up and it causes traffic congestion. So it’s just we try to use both static and roving checkstops,” acting Sgt. Darren Holeha with the Medicine Hat Police Services’ traffic unit said.

He says police also handed out numerous tickets and warnings during the holidays for offences such as distracted driving and not wearing a seatbelt.