Random screening facing drunk driving?
To better luttter against drunk driving, the Quebec Table of road safety suggests motorists to submit a random screening tests.
The central proposition is among the 23 recommendations presented by the group chaired by Jean-Marie De Koninck in his third report released Friday Quebec.
In his paper almost 60 pages, Table notes that several drivers with impaired facultees OUTSIDE the cracks and penalties due to constraints imposed notices to the police.
Currently, a police officer may order a driver to submit to a breathalyzer unless you have reason to suspect that the latter is impaired by alcohol or drugs. However, BAC, same high, can be difficult to detect by observation, notes the report.
The systematic random Screening (DSA) would address this and allow police to test drivers at random during police operations or during an accident or a simple speeding.
Table believes that the DSA would facilitate the detection of impaired drivers and have a deterrent effect by increasing among motorists, the fear of being apprehended.
The deterrent effect, or fear of the consequences, is a milestone in the fight against drunk driving. However, many drivers seem quebecois show excessive confidence in this regard. On after a survey of the Society of Auto Insurance Quebec (SAAQ) cited in the report, not less than 35 percent of Quebecois are not afraid of being arrested by the police if they have consumed alcohol before taking the wheel.
In Australia, the random screening gave good results on the road toll. The random breath testing (RBT) allowed, according to the Table, to reduce by 35 percent the number of fatal accidents between 1988 and 1992 in the state of Queensland.
But a major obstacle looms: the measure could be illegal in Canada under the criminal law, especially in matters of presumption of innocence.
Even though he said enthusiastically welcome all recommendations of the report, the Minister of Transport, Sylvain Gaudreault, is still cautious on the issue of random screening.
In press conference, he recalled that the Quebec favored a return to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling on the constitutional value of DSA.
"Suspect a driver of being impaired, it is not as go randomly on anyone, there is a suspicion or not (...) That's why it is necessary to validate all this CHAMBERS the Supreme Court, I think that's wise, "he has said.
The Government of Quebec has submitted its proposal to refer to the group of federal-provincial-territorial working group on driving while impaired. The Quebec Table of road safety said support gait.
by Martin Ouellet
