2021 Sees the Return of the Holidays and More Drunk Driving Concerns: Lethbridge | The Canadian News

For the first time in two years, restaurants and caterers have rebooked and organized Christmas parties; although slightly smaller than the pre-pandemic norm.

“We’re probably 50% down from 2019, but you know what? We’re 100% up from 2020 so I’ll take what we can get,” said Vicky Vanden Hoek, owner of Honkers Pub and Eatery.

Vanden Hoek says that while the groups look a bit different from 2019, the holiday cheer is back in full force.

“They are companies, and there are some larger families that are also entering, because they know they can expand a little better,” he said.

“Sometimes people haven’t been together for a couple of years, so they all want to get together so no one does all the work and housing.”

The return of Christmas gatherings has some concerned about the increased risk of drunk driving.

Operation Red Nose is normally an option for people and their vehicles to get home safely, but the service was canceled for the second year in a row.

Ian Nimeck, owner of Lethbridge Driver Take Home, says that many people in Lethbridge don’t realize how many options there are to get home safely to the city.

“Nobody wants to leave vehicles anywhere, they want their vehicles to get home safely and take a quick look around: no police cars, no taxis, and especially in winter, it’s cold, nobody wants to wait. out very long, ”Nimeck said.

“They take risks, and that risk is not the best reward.”

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Lethbridge Driver Take Home operates a year-round service that takes drivers and their cars home.

Many of Nimeck’s clients were delighted with their choice Saturday night, when many encountered the first Lethbridge police holiday checkpoint of the season.

“We were able to search just under 900 vehicles overnight,” said Acting Sgt. Brent Paxman of the Lethbridge Police Service’s traffic response unit.

“We started on Whoop Up Drive, which I know a lot of people were complaining about, but essentially we wanted to make sure that we were out and about and that it was checkpoint season, and that they got home safe and sound.”

Paxman says LPS pulled four drunk drivers off the road with the first control stop of the campaign.

According to police, the five-year high for the program was when 12 drunk drivers were identified at checkpoints in 2017; 2020 saw only one.

The campaign will continue for the remainder of December, and Paxman says the goal is clear, although it may not be realistic.

“We are checking for drunk drivers, but we hope to get zeros,” he said.

LPS said in a statement that four Immediate Roadside Penalties (IRS) were also awarded for zero tolerance for those with a Graduated Driver’s License, and a 24-hour suspension from the IRS. There were also 13 fines issued for other offenses, seven of them related to alcohol or cannabis, and a firearm seized for safekeeping.

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