Is driving a right or a privilege?

I have been informed that the courts have held over on a decision to immediately suspend a person’s driver’s licence when they are suspected of drunk driving. What a shame. We need immediate consequences for people to get the message. After all, if you maim, injure or kill another party, they do have immediate consequences.

Let’s quit treating driving like it is your God-given right and instead treat it like the privilege that it is. I have poor eyesight, therefore, I am an impaired driver. I do not meet the requirements to have a driver’s licence. How is that any different than a drunk driver? If you are an impaired driver, you do not meet the requirements to drive.

I can’t apply for a job that requires a driver’s licence; I need to make sure I can support myself, get kids to school and get to appointments, etc. If I have had to alter my life in order to cope with being a non-driver, then I certainly expect an impaired driver, who has made the choice to drive drunk, can certainly alter their life in order to deal with the result of this choice. After all, a drunk driver is still capable of making poor decisions and those decisions should have immediate consequences.

Otherwise maybe the province should see fit to issue me a licence; after all, driving is my right ... or is it?

Lorraine Visser

Lethbridge