B.C. northeast interior towns have highest rate of impaired driving

Communities in the northeast of B.C.’s Interior have far higher rates of drunk driving than its urban areas, a Globalnews.ca investigative report has found.Through an access-to-information request, Globalnews.ca obtained ICBC’s investigation records of alcohol-related licence suspensions and the totals of licenced drivers by postal code. The areas with the highest rate of impaired driving tend to be resource-based, which attract a lot of young, predominantly male workers, RCMP Sgt. Steve Pratt told Globalnews.ca.”A lot of the jobs are camp-based, so when they get their time away from camp, they come to town and there’s a lot of drinking at the bars, and alcohol and drug use go hand in hand,” he added.Among postal codes with more than 1,000 licenced drivers, the highest numbers of suspensions per 1,000 licensed drivers were in the following municipalities:*Chilcotin;* Northeastern BC;*Dawson Creek;* Fort St. John;* Merritt;* Prince George (east-central);* Harrison Lake;* Richmond (southeast);* Kelowna (east); and* Castlegar.Among the 10 areas with the lowest rates of impaired driving, nine are in or near Vancouver and the tenth is in Victoria.