A young driver from Mitchell, Manitoba, learned a hard lesson about impaired driving just before midnight on December 21. According a message posted to the R.M. of Springfield Police Service's social media on Sunday, December 22 at 12:33am, an officer patrolling Provincial Road 206 near Oakbank noticed a car speeding northbound.
Radar showed the car was going 145 km/h in a 100 km/h zone as it approached Oakbank. The officer pulled the vehicle over and conducted a mandatory alcohol screening. The 20-year-old driver provided two breath samples, both registering a Fail.
Since it was the driver’s first offence, they received an immediate 90-day suspension of their licence and their vehicle was impounded for 30 days under Manitoba's Immediate Roadside Prohibition program. The driver also received tickets totaling $752—one for speeding and another for driving with alcohol in their system, which is prohibited for new drivers under the 0% BAC (blood alcohol concentration) rule.
Police highlighted a quote from the Supreme Court of Canada, first issued 30 years ago: “Every year drunk driving leaves a terrible trail of death, injury, heartbreak and destruction … drunk driving is clearly the crime which causes the most significant social loss to the country.”
The Springfield Police Service emphasized its ongoing commitment to stopping impaired drivers and preventing harm to the community.