N.S. police crack down on impaired New Year's Eve drivers

Sgt. Scott Reeves, a member of the Cape Breton Regional Police’s traffic safety unit, has seen first hand the consequences of impaired driving across his decades-long career.

"We deal with bad accidents. We see it all the time," Reeves said.

This holiday season, Cape Breton police have stepped up patrols such as spot checks and random vehicle stops.

Reeves said they are on particularly high alert on New Year's Eve. Their message heading into the night is they plan to be everywhere.

"And I think word of mouth is getting out, too, that we're all over the place," Reeves said. "We did a few last week, where people were saying, 'We've never seen you in this area before.'"

"There's going to be police officers out on the roads throughout Nova Scotia tonight," said Cpl. Carlie McCann, a communications officer with the Nova Scotia RCMP.

The RCMP says it doesn’t take long after midnight to catch and charge the first impaired driver of the New Year, noting that drivers don't have to hit the federal legal limit of .08 for there to be consequences.

"You can also get a licence suspension under the motor vehicle act at .05 (milligrams of alcohol per liter of blood)," McCann said. "There are some provincial penalties that you could face if you are driving impaired but at a lower level than the Criminal Code charges."

Cape Breton police say they have more than 50 officers trained to detect impairment by alcohol or drugs. The force will finish the year having issued more than 100 impaired driving charges.

"We want you to get home safe," Reeves said. "We want the people who are travelling in a car coming towards you to get home safe."

The RCMP says anyone who believes they have spotted an impaired driver should call 911.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page.