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Huge support for further crackdown on drunk driving

BY KEITH LACEY Sgt. Gary Lavoie will have no compassion for any driver who loses his or her driving privileges for life if a proposed new law is enacted in Ontario.
BY KEITH LACEY

Sgt. Gary Lavoie will have no compassion for any driver who loses his or her driving privileges for life if a proposed new law is enacted in Ontario.

Premier Ernie Eves has just announced a crackdown on repeat drunk drivers by promising to introduce legislation to stiffen Ontario?s already tough laws on drinking and driving. The key aspect of the new legislation is a promise to suspend the driver?s license for life of anyone convicted of a drunk driving offence for the second time.

?People who drink and drive put lives at risk and our government is committed to ensuring that people convicted of a repeat drinking and driving offence face the consequences,? said Eves.

?People should be able to drive in their neighbourhoods or on our highways without fearing those who have a history of drinking and driving.?

Lavoie couldn?t agree more.

?I?ve spent most of my police career in traffic and I?ve dealt with a lot of fatalities and serious injuries because of drinking and driving,? said Lavoie, who has been a police officer for 21 years. ?What?s most sad is all of these deaths and accidents are totally preventable.?

From talking to police, the public at large and organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), the only people who probably won?t agree with the proposed new legislation are people who insist on consuming alcohol and then step behind the wheel of their motor vehicle.

Lavoie says he has ?no doubt? the proposed legislation will act as a deterrent to those who insist upon drinking and driving.

?I think it would definitely be a deterrent for a certain number of people,? said Lavoie. ?You will always have the chronic offenders who insist on drinking and driving and seemingly don?t care if they get caught or not, but, for many people, I hope they call it quits when it comes to drinking and driving.?

Ontario already has some of the toughest drunk driving legislation in North America, but there are still far too many who risk getting caught and seriously hurting themselves and others, said Lavoie.

The threat of losing driving privileges for life after a second conviction will help keep many drunk drivers off the road, said Lavoie.

Andrew Murie, national executive director of MADD, applauds Eves and his government for their tough stand and has little doubt the proposed legislation will be enacted in the very near future, likely within weeks.

?This particular government has introduced tough legislation on drunk driving in the past and there?s no reason to believe they won?t come through again,? said Murie, in a telephone interview from his Toronto head office. ?I?m of the opinion this kind of tough legislation is long overdue.

?I fully expect the government to follow through on this commitment and be held accountable if they
don?t.?

Statistics clearly reveal the incidence of drunk driving has decreased over the past 20 years, said
Murie.

That?s the good news. The bad news is incidents involving drunk driving continue to be the leading cause of death and serious injury in Canada among young males between the ages of 15 and 19, he said.

In 2000, more than 400 young males between the ages of 15 and 19 were killed in Canada, and more than 40 per cent of the cases involved alcohol and motor vehicles on roadways, said Murie.

?It appears young females have got the message, but young males simply have not,? he said. ?You combine the Superman mentality most young males tend to possess, immaturity, and (combining) the legal drinking age of 19 with the ability to drive and you have a potentially deadly combination.?

The courts have clamped down, and education campaigns have made everyone aware drinking and driving is no longer socially acceptable, said Murie.

This new proposed legislation will make many take a sober second thought before ever considering drinking and driving, but if it doesn?t work then harsher legislation might be needed, he said.

?Whatever it takes to separate drinking from driving, be it legislation or social pressure, it must be done,? he said. ?If that means a lifetime ban from driving after even one drunk driving conviction, so
be it.

?If you?ve ever been affected by someone who has needlessly lost a loved one because of a drunk
driver, you would have to agree.?