Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
BEFORE YOU TURN THE KEY
•If you feel different after drinking, you are impaired.
•If someone asks if you are OK to drive, say no. The person has asked you for a reason.•Don’t be afraid to admit to yourself you are impaired.
SOURCE: Cpl. Pat Moran, Integrated Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit
You sure you’re OK to drive?
Mounties’ top drunk-driving hunter says most are surprised they’re over the limit
 |
MIDDLETON — The head of a police unit that has been hunting down impaired drivers in southwest Nova Scotia is warning drivers to make wiser choices about drinking and driving.
"You may be impaired sooner than you think," RCMP Cpl. Pat Moran of the Integrated Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit of officers from Kentville and Bridgewater, said in a recent interview.
Cpl. Moran said most of the 85 drivers whom the four RCMP and two municipal officers have charged with impaired driving since the pilot project started last December were not expecting to blow over the legal limit.
"Approximately 50 showed very little if any signs of impairment other than the odour of alcohol on their breath," he said.
"Many of them were very surprised to see Fail come up on the roadside device."
He said there is a lesson to be learned from this.
"Just because you think you are not impaired doesn’t mean you are not. If you have to think about it, you probably are," he said. "If you have to ask yourself, ‘Should I be driving?’ you probably shouldn’t."
The project is funded by several provincial departments through a cost-sharing agreement in which the RCMP provide vehicles and equipment, and pay most of the cost of keeping the six full-time members, from Kentville and Bridgwater, patrolling 27,000 kilometres of roads in southwest Nova Scotia.
Cpl. Moran said the members have put 160,000 kilometres on their vehicles in the first seven months of the project.
The unit has imposed 112 licence suspensions of 24 hours’ duration. The Motor Vehicle Act allows officers to take away a driver’s licence for 24 hours and impound a vehicle at the driver’s expense if a warning indicator shows on the alcohol screening device.
Cpl. Moran said the 24-hour suspension does not result in a criminal record because no charge can be laid, but it does show up on the driving record of the person suspended.
"You only have to be halfway to exceeding the legal limit," he said. "For some people that could be as little as a couple of beers. Someone in a bar who consumes three or four drinks over two to three hours should be wary of driving."
If the roadside device comes up with Fail, officers will require the driver to be screened by a breathalyzer, which is used in a controlled environment such as a police detachment. It provides a reading that shows the precise alcohol content of the person’s blood.
The Criminal Code sets the blood-alcohol level for impaired driving at 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.
Even a first-time conviction carries at least a stiff fine and a minimum one-year licence suspension, he said.
Cpl. Moran said drivers need to be reminded that having a driver’s licence is a privilege, not a right; and it can be revoked or suspended at any time.
"For a lot of people, to lose the right to drive could be devastating," he said. "But being arrested and charged is a better option than hurting yourself or someone else."
He urged drivers to make wise choices.
"Someone is counting on you," Cpl. Moran said. "They would rather see you than me at their door."
Fewer Drunk-Driving Fatalities Nationwide
September 2, 2008
Drunk-driving fatalities declined 3.7 percent nationally last year, according to a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The Insurance Journal reported Aug. 29 that alcohol-related traffic fatalities also declined in 32 of the 50 U.S. states. However, more motorcyclists died in crashes involving alcohol, NHTSA found, with increases in such deaths reported in 25 states.
An estimated 12,998 people died in alcohol-related crashes last year, down from 13,491 in 2006, NHTSA reported. The figures came from the agency's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (PDF link).
In an August 28 press release commenting on the findings, Mothers Against Drunk Driving called on all states to further reduce DUI fatalities by passing legislation mandating alcohol ignition interlocks in the vechicles of all convicted drunk drivers, noting the recent failure of such efforts in California and Texas.
MADD also chided Wisconsin and South Carolina for being the two states that saw an increase in alcohol-related traffic fatalities, citing less effective laws in those state
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
NSAIDD Day is on it's way!!!
Back to school.
That means NSAIDD Day is around the corner.
Check out http://www.nsaidd.com/
In our web site we have our manual for all of you to use to help create your NSAIDD Day Event.
The manual has great advice to get you started.
Join our Facebook page also!!!
Click the link
Your the Hero....Be the Difference
National Students against Impaired and Distracted Driving (NSAIDD)
This national day of action was started in 1999 by a group of high school students who believed they have had power to stop impaired driving. Since then, this movement has spread across the country, with now with more than 500,000 students taking part on the day. NSAIDD Day is held annually in October.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
BEFORE YOU TURN THE KEY
•If you feel different after drinking, you are impaired.
•If someone asks if you are OK to drive, say no. The person has asked you for a reason.•Don’t be afraid to admit to yourself you are impaired.
SOURCE: Cpl. Pat Moran, Integrated Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit
You sure you’re OK to drive?
Mounties’ top drunk-driving hunter says most are surprised they’re over the limit
|
MIDDLETON — The head of a police unit that has been hunting down impaired drivers in southwest Nova Scotia is warning drivers to make wiser choices about drinking and driving.
"You may be impaired sooner than you think," RCMP Cpl. Pat Moran of the Integrated Impaired Driving Enforcement Unit of officers from Kentville and Bridgewater, said in a recent interview.
Cpl. Moran said most of the 85 drivers whom the four RCMP and two municipal officers have charged with impaired driving since the pilot project started last December were not expecting to blow over the legal limit.
"Approximately 50 showed very little if any signs of impairment other than the odour of alcohol on their breath," he said.
"Many of them were very surprised to see Fail come up on the roadside device."
He said there is a lesson to be learned from this.
"Just because you think you are not impaired doesn’t mean you are not. If you have to think about it, you probably are," he said. "If you have to ask yourself, ‘Should I be driving?’ you probably shouldn’t."
The project is funded by several provincial departments through a cost-sharing agreement in which the RCMP provide vehicles and equipment, and pay most of the cost of keeping the six full-time members, from Kentville and Bridgwater, patrolling 27,000 kilometres of roads in southwest Nova Scotia.
Cpl. Moran said the members have put 160,000 kilometres on their vehicles in the first seven months of the project.
The unit has imposed 112 licence suspensions of 24 hours’ duration. The Motor Vehicle Act allows officers to take away a driver’s licence for 24 hours and impound a vehicle at the driver’s expense if a warning indicator shows on the alcohol screening device.
Cpl. Moran said the 24-hour suspension does not result in a criminal record because no charge can be laid, but it does show up on the driving record of the person suspended.
"You only have to be halfway to exceeding the legal limit," he said. "For some people that could be as little as a couple of beers. Someone in a bar who consumes three or four drinks over two to three hours should be wary of driving."
If the roadside device comes up with Fail, officers will require the driver to be screened by a breathalyzer, which is used in a controlled environment such as a police detachment. It provides a reading that shows the precise alcohol content of the person’s blood.
The Criminal Code sets the blood-alcohol level for impaired driving at 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.
Even a first-time conviction carries at least a stiff fine and a minimum one-year licence suspension, he said.
Cpl. Moran said drivers need to be reminded that having a driver’s licence is a privilege, not a right; and it can be revoked or suspended at any time.
"For a lot of people, to lose the right to drive could be devastating," he said. "But being arrested and charged is a better option than hurting yourself or someone else."
He urged drivers to make wise choices.
"Someone is counting on you," Cpl. Moran said. "They would rather see you than me at their door."
Fewer Drunk-Driving Fatalities Nationwide
September 2, 2008 News Summary
Drunk-driving fatalities declined 3.7 percent nationally last year, according to a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The Insurance Journal reported Aug. 29 that alcohol-related traffic fatalities also declined in 32 of the 50 U.S. states. However, more motorcyclists died in crashes involving alcohol, NHTSA found, with increases in such deaths reported in 25 states.
An estimated 12,998 people died in alcohol-related crashes last year, down from 13,491 in 2006, NHTSA reported. The figures came from the agency's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (PDF link).
In an August 28 press release commenting on the findings, Mothers Against Drunk Driving called on all states to further reduce DUI fatalities by passing legislation mandating alcohol ignition interlocks in the vechicles of all convicted drunk drivers, noting the recent failure of such efforts in California and Texas.
MADD also chided Wisconsin and South Carolina for being the two states that saw an increase in alcohol-related traffic fatalities, citing less effective laws in those state
