RCMP nab 32 impaired drivers on Vancouver Island’s highways during summer campaign
Published 3:50 pm Wednesday, August 19, 2026
RCMP officers apprehended 32 drivers who were either impaired by alcohol or drugs on Vancouver Island’s highways during this year’s Summer Impaired Driver Campaign, which ran during a six-week period from June 15 to July 31.
Across all of B.C., 229 impaired drivers were taken off the road during the campaign.
The numbers are down from last year’s campaign, which saw 131 drivers on Vancouver Island pulled over while driving impaired during the initiative, and 626 overall across the province.
But Superintendent Lori Orstad, with B.C. Highway Patrol, said while it may appear drivers are doing a much better job of driving sober, last year’s SID campaign ran for 10 weeks, compared to six this year, and temporary staffing redeployments this year due to the FIFA World Cup that was held in Vancouver during the same time period of the campaign were significant factors in seeing the numbers much lower this summer.
“We are proud of B.C. Highway Patrol’s significant contribution to the resources of the world-soccer tournament, and now that we have our resources back, we expect business as usual,” said Orstad.
“We encourage everyone to plan ahead and make sober-driving decisions. Help us keep the roads safe for everyone.”
Reserve Const. Gary O’Brien, from Nanaimo’s RCMP detachment, didn’t immediately have the numbers of drivers caught impaired during the campaign on highways in the Nanaimo area, but said the numbers locally have been relatively unchanged in recent years.
“There are periods of time when we’ll see impaired driving in the Nanaimo area drop off, with a lot of designated drivers taking people around and there’s no alcohol in the vehicles, so they’re taking it seriously, but then we’ll stop two or three impaired drivers in just one night,” he said.
“We like to think that the message to not drive while impaired is getting across to people, and it’s much less now than it was 10 to 15 years ago, but then we’ll see spikes like at summer festivals. An example of that is the number of impaired drivers that were stopped during the Sunfest Festival this year, which was just ridiculous.”
B.C. Highway Patrol officers dealt with a record 36 impaired-driving offences over the four-day Sunfest Country Music Festival that was held in the Cowichan Valley between July 30 and Aug. 2 this year, up 11 from the previous record of 25 set at the 2024 Sunfest.
O’Brien said driving while under the influence of drugs is becoming an increasing problem, and the RCMP are seeing more people impaired by marijuana gummies and mushrooms.
“Mushrooms are really popular now because, while they make you high, it’s not an overwhelming high and people think they’re fine to drive but, technically, they are still impaired,” he said.
“We do have field testing and we have officers who are trained to carry it out, so we can find out fairly easily if drivers are impaired and they can be charged with impaired driving.”
robert.barron@nanaimobulletin.com