'Didn't meet the standard': Mace stops Riders practice twice
35m ago
The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn't practise up to their standard on Tuesday.
Saskatchewan RCMP stopped more than 4,725 vehicles on the province’s roads over the Labour Day long weekend last week for safety checks.
The stops — on Highway 16 west of Saskatoon, on Highway 1 east of Regina, Highway 11 at Chamberlain, and Highway 54 at Lumsden — saw a total of 46 people have their licences suspended, with 28 tickets and 76 written warnings issued, and two people charged with impaired driving. Thirty-seven of the licence suspensions were for cannabis.
On Aug 30 on Highway 16 officers stopped more than 2500 vehicles, and suspended 14 licences for alcohol or drug use. The suspensions ranged from three to 120 days, police said. Twelve were for cannabis, one for alcohol and one for cocaine.
The Highway 1 checkpoint on Aug. 31, stopped more than 275 vehicles and 11 people had licences suspended (nine for cannabis and two for alcohol), while police issued 18 tickets and 55 written warnings. One person was charged with impaired driving.
The Sept. 1 operation at Chamberlain stopped more than 1950 vehicles. Police administered 180 mandatory alcohol screening tests and 16 oral fluid device tests for cannabis and suspended the licences of 15 people (13 for cannabis and two for alcohol).
Tickets were also handed out for having open alcohol in a vehicle and three people were nabbed for driving an unregistered vehicle. Seven written warnings were issued.
The Lumsden checkpoint, also on Sept. 1 saw six tickets and 14 written warnings issued, with one person charged with impaired driving. Six people had licences suspended (one for cocaine, one for alcohol, three for cannabis and one “related to drugs”) including a new driver, who received a 60-day suspension after an oral fluid device test determined they’d consumed cannabis.
According to the RCMP, Mounties charged more than 1,700 people with impaired driving in 2023, and alcohol was a factor in one third of all fatal collisions.
According to SGI, an average of 34 people die every year in Saskatchewan as a result of impaired driving.
SGI, Regina Police Service, Saskatoon Police Service, Corman Park Police Service, and the Saskatchewan Highway Patrol partnered with RCMP on the traffic safety initiatives.
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