A MADD/PAPS checkstop in previous years. (File photo/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Impaired driving

P.A. Police not joining RCMP with universal driver alcohol screening

Mar 26, 2024 | 1:01 PM

Prince Albert police say they will not be following in the footsteps of Saskatchewan RCMP that all drivers pulled over will be required to do a breathalyzer.

Chief Patrick Nogier told paNOW that, at the moment, the Prince Albert Police Service is not considering instituting what is “an obviously contentious issue.”

“We have enough to keep us busy with those high-priority calls, so getting into a situation where we could do something of that nature just doesn’t seem feasible at this time,” he said.

On April 1, Saskatchewan RCMP will begin giving a road side test to all drivers their officers pull over to reduce the high numbers of drunk drivers it sees.

Last year, RCMP pulled over an average of five impaired drivers every day. They added the roadside test takes about 90 seconds to administer.

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Nogier said the RCMP are not the first police service to institute a policy in which all drivers pulled over must test as Regina is running a similar project.

Prince Albert will not be joining forces, however, due to a lack of resources needed to run such a program.

“Number one, that we recognize and understand that driving is a privilege and that individuals need to make sure that they honour that privilege,” he said.

Prince Albert police officers are trained to look for signs of impairment in any driver they pull over and administer the road side test when they suspect a driver has been drinking alcohol.

“If you look at the type of resources that would be required to do that on every individual stop, I can tell you right now that we have a challenge maintaining that,” Nogier said,

The city does have a dedicated police unit for traffic services, funded by SGI, but those six officers are already busy.

READ MORE: In 2020, impaired driving incidents were down in Prince Albert.

The Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan (CTSS) held a traffic enforcement blitz in Prince Albert last August where 500 tickets were issued in two days. Of those, 250 were for summary offences, 248 written warnings were issued and 12 roadside suspensions were handed out.

Last year Prince Albert’s CTSS issued 5,549 tickets, 993 written warnings, 12 criminal code charges, five impaired driving charges and 15 SGI road side suspensions were given out.

Overall, the largest chunk of tickets were for speeding and made up 50 per cent of all tickets issued by Prince Albert city police.

Another change that can be expected on city streets this summer is the sight of a police motorcycle, which was funded by SGI and is still being equipped.

Because the motorcycle is harder to see, those units are more successful in catching certain driving infractions like speeding.

SGI stats showed an increase in major collisions across Saskatchewan, including Prince Albert.

To address that, there will be an increase in enforcement in 2024, especially at major intersections.

Drivers can also expect another dozen MADD/SGI/PAPS checkstops this year and another two-day traffic blitz in August.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com