Impaired Driving

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) reports 16 to 19 year old fatally injured drivers, especially males, continue to be over represented when compared with older drivers according to a new analysis of Canadian research published over the last decade.

This short video from New Zealand examines 3 Maori boys waiting in a car for their father to return. They parody the father driving while under the influence of marihuana (blazed) during the wait. It is humourous on the face of it, but if you really think about it they are really keenly aware of the dangers of drug impaired driving.

I have received many e-mails telling me that marijuana does not impair driving, but my experience tends more toward what I see in the video.

How is it that someone can be charged with an impaired and a refusal to submit a sample and only be found guilty of driving without due care and attention? This is not right :(

Our friends in Australia are taking on impaired driving with this tongue in cheek video. Done with a game show theme, it explains all the things that a drinking driver may "win." They are not afraid to state that if you chose to drink and drive, you are a bloody idiot! You will see that BC is not the only jurisdiction that deals harshly with impaired drivers.

If you spent any amount of time looking around the DriveSmartBC web site, you will probably guess that I really like the Australian traffic safety videos. They don't pull any punches and deliver their messages well. This one, on the danger of driving while impaired by fatigue, is no different.

Even though our winter driving season is almost over, the situation of stopping to pull an unfortunate driver out of the ditch came to mind. I think everyone realizes that care has to be exercised in pulling the vehicle out so that another collision doesn't occur. However, being a good samaritan could make you a party to an offence.

It has been over a year since my son lost his licence for pleading guilty to drinking too much wine at my new years dinner and running to the store for me. He went through a road block, and blew over. I would not have sent him if I thought he was impaired, but with the new laws, he was guilty. 

Glen and Tralee Mazu's daughter Brianne held a 19th birthday party with their consent on family property. A minor guest, Dallas Smithson, became very drunk and eventually drove away from the party in a borrowed vehicle. He collided with a taxi, killing the taxi driver and injuring the passenger, Jeremy Lutter.

I pleaded guilty to a charge of impaired driving about 2 1/2 years ago. I was told by the court that I would receive a 1 year suspension and a $1000 fine. Based on this information, I plead guilty.

I knew it was going to be a tough 12 months, but knew I would come out of it with a whole new outlook on drinking and driving.

The reasons for judgment of Mr. Justice Sigurdson (in chambers) continues from the case where he found that British Columbia's Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) where a driver provided a fail breath sample was contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it did not provide for sufficient grounds for review of a prohibition.