Police in Oak Bay are expressing some concern after catching a half-dozen impaired motorists in less than two weeks.
According to the Oak Bay Police Department, officers have issued immediate roadside prohibitions for impaired driving to six different motorists since July 1 — when British Columbia officially moved into Step 3 of its COVID-19 restart plan, which loosened gathering restrictions and allowed restaurants, bars, and pubs to resume normal liquor service for the first time since November.
Three of those six prohibitions were issued on July 8 alone, with officers initially stopping two motorists for speeding while the third was caught in a roadblock that police set up on Beach Avenue.
Mark Fisher, deputy chief of the Oak Bay Police Department, said officers only issued 12 roadside prohibitions for impaired driving last year but have issued 14 so far this year, with nine occurring in the past two weeks.
“We have been out conducting summer attack counterchecks as well, which obviously means we are stopping more vehicles and checking for impaired driving, but having said that whether it is through check-stops or regular patrols, we are seeing an uptick in impaired driving,” said Fisher.
The day before B.C. moved into Step 3, Oak Bay PD set up a roadblock on Beach Avenue, where they caught two motorists for impaired driving, including one who allegedly attempted to avoid the roadblock by driving down a side street.
Then on July 1, police established another roadblock, this time on Oak Bay Avenue, where they caught a 76-year-old for impaired driving and issued him a 90-day driving prohibition.
Fisher said police had been expecting to nab more impaired drivers since restrictions were loosened on Canada Day and are surprised at just how many they’ve managed to catch in such a short period of time.
“Obviously with the bars being open later, we expect to see some [impaired driving],” he said. “So, some of that is attributable … but I am surprised to see that much of an increase.”
One other possible explanation for the increase, said Fisher, is that the department has a number of officers who have a keen interest in traffic safety and enforcement.
“They are quite proactive in that area and that does make a difference in the number of vehicles are being stopped for those types of violations,” he said.
But at the end of the day, Fisher said the recent rash of prohibitions shows that some people in the community still aren’t getting the message, despite years of messaging.
“Obviously not if that many people in a community our size are getting stopped and are found to be impaired,” he said. “It’s concerning.”
Fisher warns that police will continue to be out on the roads looking for impaired motorists and urges people to plan ahead if they know they are going to be drinking and to find an alternate way home.
“We are out doing check-stops and we will be continuing to do them throughout the summer,” he said. “We got a lot of people out on our roadways, on foot, cycling, and it creates a concern around safety on the roadways when we have people driving around impaired.”
Nicholas Pescod
