Kelowna Mounties catching more people doing drugs and driving

Drinking and doing drugs while driving seems to be on the rise, according to Kelowna Mounties.

The Kelowna RCMP Municipal Traffic Section had a road check set up from Friday May 22 through Sunday May 24, with assistance from RCMP Central Okanagan Traffic Services and frontline policing members across the Kelowna area.

"Our teams collaboratively set up a road check at a location where a serious impaired collision had previously occurred. In addition to impaired drivers, we stopped multiple new drivers (class 7N) with too many passengers, motorists with more passengers than seatbelts and vehicles containing open liquor,”  Const. Brad Smith of the Kelowna RCMP Municipal Traffic Section said in a press release.

"Additionally, specially trained Drug Recognition Experts with the Kelowna RCMP Municipal Traffic Section were kept busy conducting three Drug Influence Evaluations throughout the evening. We have seen a rise in the number of drug impaired driving cases in our region."

As a result of these enforcement actions, police issued eight three-day Immediate Roadside Prohibitions, 14 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibitions, one 24-hour prohibition by alcohol and six 24-hour prohibition by drug.

Since the beginning of 2020, our Drug Recognition Experts have carried out 25 Drug Influence Evaluations on drivers believed to be operating under the influence of an intoxicating substance. During the same period of time in 2019, that number was lower at 17.

“This is something we are monitoring very closely in the community, as we tailor our future enforcement actions, as any increase is a cause for concern,” Sgt. Mark Booth of the Kelowna RCMP Municipal Traffic Section. “Being impaired by drugs and driving is just as dangerous as being impaired by alcohol. You will face the same penalties under the law.”