Drivers who get behind the wheel after drinking have something else to worry about now.
The RCMP is pushing hard in its national campaign to stop impaired drivers, and part of the push is training officers on alcohol breath-analysis and other signs of impairment.
In the Halifax area this week, officers from all over Atlantic Canada are getting specialized training to look for those signs.
The location is fitting, given recent statistics.
“I know in the month of August that there was over a hundred impaired drivers in the Halifax area, which is phenomenal. We have to get the word out there that impaired driving causes death,” says RCMP breath technician, Const. Dianne Hartery.
While impaired driving remains a problem, police say people are becoming less tolerant and more vigilant.
“With the use of cellphones, we have people who now see someone who is suspected of impaired driving pull off on the side of the road and they are able to give us the license plate, the description of the vehicle, the direction of travel and all that stuff,” says Trevor Baldwin from the Newfoundland RCMP.
Even the language in the training is consistent and precise: officers are fined $20 every time they call a breathalyzer a “machine” instead of an “instrument.”
This is because the use of the word machine in court undermines its credibility.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw
