By Greg Nikkel
The launch of the new impaired driving initiative by the Weyburn Police Service is almost a month away, but the excitement and support for it is building, said Chief Marlo Pritchard.
“We brought the idea forward, but what’s so good is it’s become a community initiative,” he said of the program that will make it possible for people to get a free ride home if they have been out enjoying themselves at a liquor establishment in Weyburn.
The initiative, which will start on Thursday, Aug. 31, has been made possible through a partnership with the taxi companies in Weyburn, and most of the drinking establishments, and the program will be completely voluntary, explained the chief.
The way it will work is, if someone feels they have been imbibing to the point they cannot drive home, they can ask a server for a chit or voucher for a free taxi ride home, and they will turn over the keys for their vehicle. For taking the free ride home, they will have their name entered for a prize.
The keys will be put into a sealed envelope, and can be picked the following day from the city police station. “It’s all voluntary. It’s not something we’re saying has to be done. If you don’t want to leave your keys, then don’t,” said Chief Pritchard.
There may be different options for how to do this, added Chief Pritchard, such as the option to negotiate a price with the taxi company to have their vehicle driven home instead of leaving it at the establishment overnight, although the chief pointed out, Weyburn is a safe community.
“It’s a lot smaller risk to take compared to driving home drunk,” he said.
“This is an awareness campaign with a different twist,” said Chief Pritchard. “We recognize a lot of impaired driving issues can come from leaving an establishment after they’ve been drinking. Let’s see if we can change the behaviour of individuals, and let them know, there are other options.”
The Weyburn Police Service is partnering with SGI, who has provided funding of $5,000 towards some of the cost of covering the taxi rides, and the provincial government, in addition to getting the support of businesses that have provided prizes, and the liquor establishments which have come on board with the police for this initiative.
Chief Pritchard noted if there are any establishments who have not yet agreed to be a part of this initiative, they still can let the Weyburn Police Service know that they would like to be involved.
Initially, this will be a two-month pilot project, and will be eligible on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at participating establishments.
Combined with this initiative, the city police will be conducting high-visibility checkstops at random times and places around the city.
Since word came out about this initiative, said Chief Pritchard, “it’s been all driven by the community. … We’re hearing positive comments about this initiative. There has been a willingness by the community to help in different ways, and we’re hearing a number of positive comments through social media. People are saying this is a good thing, and it’s getting people talking about it, instead of just us saying, ‘don’t drink and drive’.”
After the two-month period, the police will evaluate how the program went, including getting feedback from the taxi companies and the liquor establishments, to see if it is something they will want to continue doing.
“If nothing else, it’s a fantastic awareness campaign,” said the chief, noting that this will piggyback on SGI’s drinking and driving enforcement campaign through the month of August, where police forces around the province are going to be focusing on this issue.
Chief Pritchard said that impaired driving statistics have been staying about the same year over year in the city, but noted the province has one of the worst records for impaired driving in Canada, so the wish is to address this issue and reduce those incidences of impaired driving.
