A new impaired driving law takes effect Tues. Dec. 18.

Mandatory Alcohol Screening, or MAS, means officers are now able to demand a breathalyzer test from any driver who's pulled over for violating traffic laws or going through a check stop.

This means police can demand a breath sample from a driver immediately with no requirement to have reasonable grounds of suspicion the driver is impaired.

Under the old law, officers needed to have reasonable grounds to believe a driver was impaired to demand they take a breathalyzer test.

On Dec. 1, Alberta RCMP took part in a nationwide Impaired Driving Enforcement Day.

Nearly 12,000 cars were checked, leading to 23 charges of impaired driving due to alcohol and two impaired driving charges due to drugs.

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