RCMP use road checks, cell

phones to pen drinking drivers

IF YOU’RE PLANNING
on indulging in a little
extia Christmas cheer this
holiday season, local
RCMP have one message
for you: don’t drink and
drive.

Because if you do,
chances are you'll get
caught.

From April through No-
vember this year, RCMP
officers here stopped
~ 28,535 vehicles in- ICBC.

road checks.

Those checks resulted
-in six impaired driving
charges and 53 24-hour
driving suspensions,

In addition, RCMP offi-
cers issued three admin-
istrative driving prohibi-
tions and impounded eight
vehicles.

Ninety-five people were
given lickets and one per-
. 8on was charged for other
criminal code offences.

But even if you don’t
tun into a road check,
RCMP want you to know
that road checks account
for only a fraction of all
alcohol-related arrests and
suspensions at the detach-
ment.

According to Constable
J.R. Walker at the Terrace
RCMP detachment, local
officers have charged 69
drivers and issued 183 24-
hour driving suspensions
here to the end of Novem-
ber this year.

Last year, RCMP is-
sued 229 24-hour driving
suspensions issued and 65
drivers were charged for
driving while impaired.

Walker said the num-
bers vary because the em-
phasis for ICBC is high
visibility and prevention.

By just being out on the
streets in full view, less
drivers are likely to drink
and drive,

But, he said, some
people have simply potten
good at avoiding more vis-
ible road checks.

“They're quick on their
toes,” said; Walker. ,
“People shut” their lights
‘out and sit there unno-
ticed, or, they switch
drivers.”

He said most arrests are
generated the ald fash-
ioned way — through public
complaints.

De-icing
on ice

NEW TECHNOLOGY for
keeping roads from getting
icy won’t be tried here
until late this winter if at
all.

Nechako North Coast
Construction’s John Ryan
says the company is siill
putting together a proposal
on the use of liquid chemi-
cals that has to be ap-
proved by the highways
ministry,

That likely won’t hap-
pen until sometime in Jan-
uary or even February, he
said. .

“I suspect it will be to-
wards the end of this win-
ter if we do it at all,” he
said.

The company said it
would try the anti-icing or
pre-wetting techniques this
winter,

The decision came after
a pitch earlier this year
from the Insurance Cor-
poration of B.C., which has
offered to subsidize the
use of the de-icing chemi-
cals.

ICBC made that deci-
sion after anti-icing tests
in Kamloops found it made
roads much safer and led
to tremendous savings in
claims for auto accidents.

Highways ministry offi-
cials,, however, were
caught by surprise and
.have not yet developed
detailed standards for use
of liquid chemicals for
road maintenance contrac-
tors to follow.

' General guidelines have
been prepared and the
ministry will review speci-

: fic proposals from contrac-
tors.

* Many contractors are

- holding off this year, how-

ever, until there are de-

* tailed rules in: place,

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 22, 1999 - Al3

YOU DON’T WANT TO BLOW INTO ONE OF THESE: Constable JR Walker of
the Terrace RCMP detachment shows off a roadside screening device.

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