Saanich Police report record number of impaired drivers in 2024
Saanich Police have taken the keys from impaired drivers over 580 times this year, setting a record since BC’s Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) program began in 2010.
Under the IRP program, officers can immediately revoke a driver’s privileges for one, three, seven, 30, or 90 days, depending on the severity of the impairment.
“In early September, we surpassed the total number of impaired drivers taken off the road in all of 2023, which was 468,” said Saanich Police Constable Martin Roznowski in a video posted to Saanich Police’s social media.
Greater Victoria’s issue with impaired driving has been comically bad over the past five years.
In 2021, a roadblock set up over the August long weekend had to be shut down after police ran out of tow trucks. The officers were so “bogged down” with paperwork that they had to close the roadblock, impounding 14 cars in just two hours. In total, police caught 24 impaired drivers.
Let this be a seasonal reminder: don’t drive impaired.