Kensington sees no drinking and driving charges after social media campaign

Constable Robb Hartlenwith the Kensington Police Service saysthe holiday season brought some happy news on the drinking and driving front.

"Kensington had zero charges. So neither warnings nor driving while intoxicated. We had zero," said Hartlen.

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"Now is that because of the campaign? I think it would be grandiose to think that it was just because of that.

"But at the same time I would also be remiss if I didn't think that maybe somebody second guessed jumping behind the wheel because they heard a friend talking about the hashtag, their family talking about it or they had read it themselves."

Message travels

The social media campaign asked Island residents to go to their social media profiles and use the term #notsobernotdriving. Some participants also added their reasons for not drinking and driving over the holidays. While the campaign started in Kensington, it didn't stop there.

"We've had comments from everyone from literally a street over from the police department to a gentleman just outside of Moscow, Russia who commented why he [didn't drink and drive,]" said Hartlen.

"So yeah it's definitely reached right across the globe."

Hartlen said the campaign's international appeal showed how connected the world is now thanks to the internet.

"We're separated by town borders, provincial borders, national and international borders, but at the same time, we are as human beings connected in this intrinsic way that really only sort of manifests and shows, sort of rears it's head when campaigns like this pop-up," said Hartlen.

'A success'

Hartlen said it's not possible to tell how many people actually drank and drove over the holidays. He also can't speak for other Island police forces.

But Hartlen is happy that drinking and driving didn't cause a burden to Kensington residents over the holidays.

"Drinking and driving, you throw that charge into the pond and it ripples and touches so many different areas. So when you have none when you can say 'we had zero drinking and driving charges throughout point a to point b,' then yeah, that's a success," said Hartlen.

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