Check stops can be a deterrent, even when not there: MADD

The roadside check stops we saw in Saskatoon over the May long weekend were among the 45 done each year by Saskatoon police.

Is that sufficient for MADD Canada?

CEO Andrew Murie said the organization doesn’t have an exact or magic number. Instead, he suggests there needs to be enough for people to keep in the back of their minds that there’s always a possibility they will encounter one on the road.

“The number has to be somewhere in the vicinity where people who are consuming alcohol, that their perception is (that) if they do that, they’ll get caught,” Murie said.

Murie said if people think there are going to be check stops on the road, they will think twice about drinking and driving.

“People tweet about it, they use social media, and in a negative context in one sense, that they’re doing this, but another thing is that they are alerting people and creating that perception (the check stops) are everywhere,” Murie said.

And while we are accustomed to seeing roadside check stops typically after the bars let out, Murie suggests that, with the advent of legalized marijuana, maybe it’s time to consider check stops through the day as well.

He said there is a “slow evolution” about understanding when cannabis users are on the roadways compared to drivers who are under the influence of alcohol.

“It’s just a matter of police adapting the techniques they’ve used for a long time for alcohol,” Murie said. “The other problem with the drugs, which is just coming on board now, (is that) police are starting to get the proper training, the proper equipment, so the uptake since legalization has been slow.”

He said hopefully that improves this year and 2020.