Pre-Christmas road stops heighten warnings about drunk driving

Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the RCMP are ringing the alarms against impaired driving this holiday season, and took their campaign to a road checkpoint Monday to amplify the message. 

Police partnered with MADD to conduct road stops along Route 10 south of St. John's Monday afternoon to share a simple but important message: don't drink and drive.

"Please don't be the reason someone else has to bury their child this holiday season," said Patricia Hynes-Coates, a long-time MADD volunteer, whose stepson, Nicholas Coates, was killed because of an impaired driver in 2013. 

Since then, she's been dedicated to preventing the same tragedy from harming other families.

Hynes-Coates advised people to plan ahead, get a cab, pick a designated driver, or sleep on a friend's floor after drinking.

RCMP media relations officer Jolene Garland said nearly 320 individuals were arrested for impaired driving offences in 2024 so far, which is nearly one a day.

She said that number is "certainly too high," but is consistent with previous years, which is alarming to the RCMP. 

Although many alcoholic drinks will be consumed over the holidays, Garland said there's no particular time of day when offences are more prevalent. 

"It's anybody, at any time," she said.

"All we're asking is, separate drinking or drugs from driving this year."

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