While people feast on turkey legs and pumpkin pie, police officers will be out in force taking a bite out of dangerous driving habits this long weekend.
The New Westminster Police Department, along with other police forces across the country, is participating in "Operation Impact," a weekend-long campaign in support of Canada's Road Safety Strategy 2015. The strategy aims to make Canada's roads the safest in the world.
How will this be done? By cracking down the four most common dangerous habits of drivers: lack of seat belts, drinking and driving, aggressive driving and distracted driving, according to the New Westminster Police Department.
"Carelessness behind the wheel is often one of the main contributing factors in serious motor vehicle collisions, which can result in life-changing injuries or death," said Chief Const. Dave Jones, in a media release. "Police agencies across the country are collaborating on this project because they know that the engagement of the driving public is essential to safer streets and highways."
Distracted driving - using any electronic device behind the wheel - kills about 31 people in the Lower Mainland each year and about 91 people across the province, according to ICBC.
And it's not only the veteran drivers who are using their devices while driving. The largest percentage of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes are under 20 years old while the second largest group is aged 20 to 29 years old, according to a police department media release.
Police will also be cracking down on speeding this weekend. Excessive speed was a contributing factor in more than 27 per cent of fatal car accidents and 19 per cent of accidents causing serious injury, according to the release.
Seat belts, meanwhile, are the most effective way to avoid being thrown from a car during a collision. Seventy-five per cent of people thrown from their vehicles are killed.
The campaign hits the streets just in time for Thanksgiving, running from Oct. 11 to Oct. 14. Because more people will be on the roads, there is a higher chance of accidents, according to the release.
Police hope by cracking down on dangerous, and illegal, habits like drinking and driving or distracted driving during the busy long weekend they will change the "behaviours that put drivers, passengers and other road users most at risk," the release stated.
