Two Port Moody Police officers were honoured last week for their part in reducing the alcohol-related death toll on B.C.'s roads by 52% under the Alexa's Team program.
PMPD constables Jennaby Ohashi and Brian Wong are among 1,617 Alexa's Team members throughout the province, several of whom gathered at the Justice Institute of BC on May 7 to celebrate the nearly 10,000 driving prohibitions that were issued in 2014.
Last year, police handed out 122 90-day administrative driving prohibitions, 1,720 24-hour suspensions and 4,661 immediate roadside prohibitions of three to 90 days. Another 464 drivers were given 90-day prohibitions for refusing a breathalyzer and 3,022 were in the warn range.
In Port Moody, 57 impaired drivers were taken off the road last year. Between 2008 and 2013, 386 drunk drivers were caught.
Alexa's Team is named for Alexa Middelaer, a four-year-old Ladner girl who was killed by a drunk driver in May 2008. Her family has lobbied for new measures to combat drinking and driving, resulting in the Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) system introduced in 2010.
Since then, Alexa's Team members, including both municipal and RCMP officers, have processed more than 66,000 sanctions for alcohol- and drug-related driving offences.
Last October, the team also introduced Alexa's Bus, a mobile road safety unit that has been deployed to communities throughout B.C. to educate the public about impaired driving.
"I want to acknowledge and thank all those officers from across the province who have become part of Alexa's Team," said Supt. Denis Boucher, the RCMP's officer in charge of E-Division Traffic in a release. "The sad part of acknowledging them for their great work is the fact that there are still those who choose to drive while impaired. The death of Alexa sparked a province to action. Unfortunately, her death is also a sobering reminder of the consequences of impaired driving."
@spayneTC
