Motorists passing through Chamberlain heading to Country Thunder had to be on their best behavior. For the eighth year, the Saskatchewan RCMP had a check stop set up in the village on Wednesday and Thursday before the big country music festival.
The check stop included Saskatchewan RCMP, Combined Traffic Services Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Conservation Officers and Saskatchewan Highway Patrol.
In the first day of the check stop, about 2,000 vehicles were pulled over. There were 75 traffic tickets issued, 95 warnings, 21 vehicles were seized for consumption of cannabis and three vehicles seized for alcohol suspensions.
There were no impaired driving charges laid after the first day of the check stop and over 340 mandatory alcohol tests were executed with everyone passing.
“For the most part, when you look at the number of tickets that we’ve got, when you look at the number of vehicles that we’ve actually checked, it’s a pretty good ratio. So, I think most drivers in Saskatchewan are getting the message that you can’t drink and drive or you can’t smoke cannabis and drive, so that message is good,” said Supt. Grant St. Germaine, officer in charge of Saskatchewan RCMP Traffic Services.
While there were no impaired driving charges, cannabis consumption while driving is still a concern for the RCMP.
In Saskatchewan, there is zero tolerance for driving with cannabis in your system. A failed roadside test is an automatic three-day license suspension and three-day vehicle impoundment.
“My members, when I’m talking to them, they feel that probably one in every seven or eight vehicles that you meet on the road the driver has been using cannabis. So, from a perspective of driving if you’re not using cannabis, it’s a little bit scary,” St. Germaine said.
Cpl. Brian Ferguson with Saskatchewan RCMP Traffic Service explained the threshold at which an officer can demand a test.
“The threshold for the oral fluid device is suspicion based. So, the officer has to just have a suspicion. That could be smell. It’s very tactile. When you get there, the person could say I just recently consumed it. Well, OK, that’s enough for a suspicion that they’re now operating the vehicle and now the officer can issue that demand,” said Ferguson.
A failed cannabis test is above 25 nanograms per millilitre of THC in oral fluid.
Saskatchewan RCMP are expected to release the full results from the check stop later today.