Drinking and driving up on P.E.I., say RCMP

Drinking and driving on P.E.I. is a growing problem, according to RCMP.

Loved ones of Elizabeth Sovis, 63, attended her memorial in Edmonton today, one week after she died while on a bike trip with her husband north of Hunter River.

Police believe Sovis died as a result of being hit by a drunk driver.

RCMP tell CBC News they're growing increasingly concerned about drunk driving.

From her porch, Kim Talebi remembers seeing Elizabeth Sovis and her husband Edmund Aunger riding their bikes on the twisty roads of New Glasgow.

"Seemed to be enjoying life, and full of it too, to be able to bike up and down the hills out here," Talebi said.

RCMP arrested and charged Clarence Arnold Moase, 49, with impaired driving causing death after the van he was driving allegedly struck Sovis.

Moase is set to appear in court Monday.

That was one of five impaired driving charges police handed out last weekend.

Sgt. Leanne Butler says it's happening all too often.

"Per 100,000 people in P.E.I., we've caught 57 impaired drivers. And in comparison to other [Atlantic] provinces, they're still in the 30s."

She says many drivers believe they'll get away with the crime.

"I think a lot of people, because it's a rural area, think 'I'm just going the back roads, or I'm just going up the road' — that sort of thing, that's an attitude that we have to try to get people to change."

Butler says of the 17 fatal collisions on Island roads last year, more than half involved an impaired driver.

For Talebi, even living on a country road is unnerving.

"My son always goes out and jogs at night, and I always tell him no, because I'm always worried about drunk drivers. It's just so popular down here."

RCMP are stepping up enforcement, but they're also asking anyone who encounters a drunk driver, or believes one may get behind the wheel, to call their police detachment or 911.