Maybe, said Vernon-North Okanagan RCMP spokesperson Gord Molenyk, people are finally getting the message about drinking and driving.
For the Canada Day long weekend, and the few days leading up to the holiday, general duty members charged one driver with being impaired, issued one three-day immediate roadside prohibition (IRPs), no seven-day IRPS and four 30-day IRPs.
Officers with North Okanagan Traffic Services and the integrated road safety unit stopped two impaired drivers and issued two three-day IRPs.
“Those numbers are way down, which is good,” said Molendyk.
“On average, I’ve been reporting about 12 or more impaired drivers and IRPs. We’ve been talking about this for quite awhile so maybe people are finally starting to take the hint.”
While people may be getting the message about driving while impaired, they’re not listening about slowing down on the highways.
NOTS and IRSU officers wrote out 132 speeding violations over the long weekend, including one to a Kamloops area motorcyclist, who was stopped one kilometre east of Falkland on Highway 97 after being clocked going 173-kilometres-an-hour in a 90-kilometres-an-hour zone.
Another motorcyclist was given a violation for passing on the right after avoiding a long lineup outside of Enderby, on Highway 97A, by passing the vehicles on the right-hand side.
Police officers also wrote 77 other traffic violations and recorded one minor drug seizure.
The RCMP were also visible on the water.
On Okanagan Lake, 18 vessels were checked and one was pulled off of the lake because of major violations and infractions.
Police issued 12 written warnings on Kalamalka Lake, and RCMP reservists worked Shuswap Lake, near Blind Bay, where 50 boats were checked.
No violation tickets were issued, but police officers did write up 40 warnings for minor violations for things like no batteries in the on-board flashlight.
“Our members report that most people were happy to see them out on the water,” said Molendyk.
“Numerous people welcomed having their boat being checked.”
