Iqaluit traffic blitz results in charges, licence suspensions

Six people were charged with impaired driving, 11 others had their driver’s licences suspended and numerous tickets and warnings were issued during a road safety blitz in Iqaluit over two weekends in December.

The joint initiative by the RCMP and Iqaluit municipal enforcement staff was held over the weekends of Dec. 12-13 and Dec. 19-20. In total, 121 roadside screening tests were carried out and 151 vehicles were stopped and checked, the RCMP said in a news release Monday.

In addition, one person was charged with flight from police, the release said.

Eight tickets were issued, eight drivers were given warnings and six had their vehicles impounded.

In Nunavut, it’s illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol concentration of more than .05  — or five milligrams of alcohol in 100 millitres of  blood. Drivers can have their licence temporarily suspended if their blood alcohol level is within the “warning range” of 0.05 per cent and 0.08 per cent.

The enforcement blitz was conducted as part of the RCMP’s National Impaired Driving Enforcement Initiative.

The co-ordinated effort focused on identifying impaired drivers, deterring dangerous behaviour and promoting safer driving, the release said.

In a phone interview Monday, Iqaluit RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Ashley Daley declined to identify the criminally charged drivers.

We are “not going to disclose that information because some of that information has not been sworn before the courts,” she said.