Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (Jul 03/98) - Three times the limit and no brakes.

That's the potentially fatal situation local RCMP found on the streets of Fort Simpson last week.

Police say a man, who was later found to have three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system, drove into the village from up the hill last Thursday afternoon. While this is dangerous enough, police also said that the vehicle he was driving did not have working brakes.

A local parent, who has young children, saw the car stuck in a ditch just off the main street and called RCMP to report the incident.

They were questioning him in four minutes and he was soon in custody and breath tests were administered.

Besides the blood-alcohol level, police said the man was not wearing a seatbelt and had no vehicle registration, insurance or licence.

"This is another excellent example of the community showing a zero tolerance towards drinking and driving," said Const. Grant MacDonald, who was the arresting officer in the case.

The man will be in court July 8 in Fort Simpson.

There have been eight incidents of police finding impaired drivers in Fort Simpson so far this year. In March, two people were found driving while impaired twice in a 24-hour period in two separate incidents.

In 1997, there were seven impaired charges in Fort Simpson.