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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
WEST VANCOUVER – The government is proposing tough new measures for public consideration to combat impaired driving and ensure better co-ordination of law enforcement resources, Solicitor General Rich Coleman and Attorney General Geoff Plant announced today.
“As part of our New Era vision for safer streets in every community, we are implementing some of the toughest road-safety measures in Canada,” Coleman said. “Last year, we implemented new laws to crack down on street racing, and last week we detailed proposals to strengthen licensing of young drivers. Today’s proposals will provide a range of new measures to combat impaired driving, including better education, tougher penalties and more effective use of police resources.”
The proposed new measures include: · Giving 90-day suspensions to drivers who get two 24-hour roadside suspensions. · Adding a user-pay compulsory rehabilitation program for serious offenders. · Strengthening enforcement, by encouraging the strategic deployment of police officers where and when they can best enforce impaired-driving laws.
The province has introduced a number of anti-drunk-driving strategies over the past 25 years, and the rate of impaired driving in B.C. fell steadily between 1983 and 1999. However, that decline has levelled off in recent years, and more than 100 people are killed each year in car crashes involving a drinking driver.
“Besides the human toll, there are other costs associated with drinking and driving,” said Plant. “For instance, it takes up an inordinate amount of court resources. Twenty-five per cent of provincial court trials are impaired-driving cases, and such cases are six to seven times more likely to go to trial than the average for all Criminal Code offences.”
Proposed new provincial offences for impaired driving and refusing a breathalyser can be used in circumstances when criminal charges are not warranted or where a plea to a provincial offence will be a sufficient deterrent.
A discussion paper on impaired driving approaches and a questionnaire for public input can be found at www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/legislation online. The public is invited to use the online questionnaire to give their views up to Aug. 31, 2003, when government will review the input and select the proposals for consideration by cabinet.
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