Keeping roads safe: Honouring officers who help get impaired drivers off the road

The Cpl. Cumming’s Watch award ceremony in Edmonton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Cam Wiebe/CTV News Edmonton)

Dozens of police officers were honoured Wednesday for their efforts in getting impaired drivers off the road.

Sixty-eight officers were presented with the Cpl. Cumming’s Watch award for their efforts to prevent the deaths and injuries caused by impaired drivers.

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In 2024, 41 of those officers charged between 15 and 24 impaired drivers and 21 officers charged more than 25 impaired drivers.

“Their efforts not only help save lives, but they also send a clear message that impaired driving will not be tolerated,” said Tanya Hansen Pratt, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Canada.

“We are proud to stand with them in this important fight.”

The award is named after RCMP Cpl. Graeme Cumming, who was killed by an impaired driver while on duty near Lethbridge in 1998. It was established in 2015 as a collaboration between MADD Canada, Alberta RCMP and Alberta Transportation.

In 2023, police reported 71,602 incidents of impaired driving across the country, according to Statistics Canada.

That year, 70 Canadians were charged with impaired driving causing death and 532 were charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm.

“We see repeat offenders, too, but we’re also seeing people for the first time thinking that they thought they were fine to drive and they weren’t, thinking they could have a couple drinks and that they wouldn’t be over the legal limit,” said EPS Const. Whitney Stevens. “That’s just not how it works.”

The maximum legal blood alcohol limit for drivers in all provinces is 0.08. In Alberta, drivers can face provincial penalties if their blood alcohol limit is between 0.05 and 0.079. Stevens said she spends time going to high schools and teaching students about the dangers of impaired driving and reminding them that even if they are sober, if they get pulled over, they may still have to do a breathalyzer test.

People who refuse to provide a breath sample can be criminally charged.

“We just want people to be safe,” Stevens said. “Ride share, taxi , public transit, that stuff is everywhere in Edmonton now, so there’s really no excuse.”