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Every driver in Calgary can expect to blow into a roadside device when they are pulled over or going through a Checkstop, due to an expansion of Calgary Police Service’s mandatory alcohol screening program.

Calgary police are supplying screening devices to every front-line officer to ensure every driver is sober, which could save hundreds of lives a year nationwide. They’ve increased their arsenal of screening devices from about 160 to 300. Where there used to be about eight officers performing mandatory alcohol screening at any given time, there will now be around 200.

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“The Traffic Safety Act has always allowed us to stop motorists to check their sobriety,” said Const. Andrew Fairman, with the alcohol and drug recognition unit. “The only thing that’s changing is that when we walk up to a vehicle, the first thing we’re going to do is provide that breath sample.”

A year ago, the mandatory alcohol screening program was launched in compliance with federal legislation, enabling officers to receive a breath sample from every driver on the road.

Photo by Gavin Young / Postmedia

Since the program began in December 2018, Calgary police have taken more than 15,600 samples which resulted in 142 Criminal Code charges and 359 provincial sanctions. Through the program, an officer with an approved screening device can test the breath of any driver who has been lawfully stopped. There is no need for the officer to have reasonable suspicion that the driver is intoxicated before asking for a breath sample.

“This is going to save lives, and if you haven’t consumed alcohol, then is it worth 30 seconds of your time to save lives?” said Fairman.

Canada joins over 40 countries that have implemented mandatory alcohol screening to lower the number of intoxicated drivers on the road. Fairman said the risk of being caught driving impaired is increasing significantly with this initiative.

“Authorities in Ireland credit mandatory screening for reducing the number of deaths by approximately 40 per cent in the first four years after it was enacted,” a Calgary Police Service release states.

If Canada’s impaired driving-related deaths were reduced by 40 per cent, hundreds of lives would be saved, according to the release. In 2015, 718 people were seriously injured or killed in impaired driving incidents.