July proves the most deadly month for impaired driving, SGI

When Adam Smith showed up to open his brewery’s doors on Thursday, he said he was totally fine seeing a customer’s vehicle parked outside overnight.

“That makes me super happy to see that someone came here, had a couple of beers, and chose to find another way home,” he said.

SGI is reminding people to book a safe ride home this summer if they are cracking a cold one.

“As the temperatures rise, unfortunately, that coincides with the rise in the level of impaired driving casualties, so injuries and fatalities,” said SGI media relations manager, Tyler McMurchy.

Statistics from the insurance agency show impaired driving deaths are the highest in July. Over the past five years, an average of seven people were killed by impaired drivers, and 39 were hurt.

Smith, the owner of Malty National Brewing Corp., said he felt an obligation to make sure people are staying safe while enjoying a beer.

While he said the brewery has a low alcohol consumption rate, all servers have training to ensure customers aren’t over-served.

Smith said some of the brewery’s bottles even warned people of driving drunk.

“With beer comes a responsibility to make sure people are consuming it responsibly, and I think that our entire operation shows that that’s a possibility,” Smith said.

In July, Regina Police’s Traffic Safety Unit will screen every driver pulled over for alcohol.

Police ran the program in March, which resulted in 637 drivers screened. The tests led to the arrest of nine people and six suspensions for impaired driving.

Constable Mike Seel said he was happy to see mandatory roadside breath samples return.

“If we can just save one person’s life, or stop one person from having a serious injury, I think it’s worth it to do it,” he said.

He said those who may be frustrated with doing a test while sober, need to remember that police are doing it for everyone’s safety.

“I have gone to enough accidents involving alcohol where people have been horribly injured or killed,” Seel said. “I don’t like seeing that.”

Seel explained that drivers who refuse a breath test can face charges that carry the same penalties as impaired driving.

“If people could see some of the images I’ve seen over my career, they would understand why we are doing it for people’s safety.”

Seel is seeing as many impaired drivers by alcohol as by cannabis. He said he doesn’t think there are more people using cannabis on the roads, instead, there is better technology and training to detect it.

RCMP has been doing mandatory roadside alcohol screenings since April.