Canada Road Safety Week kicked off on May 14th in an effort to remind all travellers to promote safe driving to save lives and reduce injuries on our roads.

Day 2 of the week-long campaign focuses on alcohol-impaired driving. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) remind people that warm summer months and long weekend celebrations mean more people on the road, more speed, and more parties. The idea is to enjoy summer those long weekends but to do so responsibly.

During a recent SGI traffic focus, Minister Responsible for SGI, Joe Hargrave, spoke about improvements in the numbers when it comes to drinking and driving accidents, but he stressed the need for continued vigilance, "In 2017, we had a 40% reduction in deaths from impaired driving. We know that number is so important. So if the number of impaired driving charges go up, that just means the police are enforcing it more. We've been working diligently with police forces to say let's continue to charge people and let's do more check stops."

With May coming on, Hargraves confirms that police will initiate an increased number of check stops, particularly with the upcoming May long weekend. 

In spite of increased enforcement, the goal is actually to see driver behaviour changed so that there would be less need to issue impaired driving charges simply because there are fewer impaired drivers. Prevention is the key, according to Harcourt, "People can prevent this from happening by just not driving, by phoning a cab, calling a friend, by being a good "wing man". Not letting friends driving impaired. One death is too many."

The CACP reports that about one in four fatal collisions involves a drunk driver. 

Day 3 of the week will focus on fatigue impaired driving.