Deadly provincial stats are driving mandatory impaired motorist tests
More than five years after the law changed in Canada to allow mandatory testing of drivers for impairment, the Saskatchewan RCMP announced they will start screening for alcohol on Monday.
That means that if RCMP stop motorists for reasons ranging from speeding to a busted tail light, police will request a breathalyzer test to determine whether they are impaired. Police will not pull drivers over for the sole purpose of conducting random tests for alcohol.
The RCMP news release explaining the new policy cited more than 1,700 charges for impaired driving last year and fatal collisions linked to alcohol that account for more than a third of all deadly crashes.
We're left to wonder why it took five years to implement the new rules, notwithstanding the possibility that the law will be challenged under Charter protections prohibiting unreasonable search and seizure and arbitrary detainment.
Between 2018, when the law was changed, and 2022, 37 per cent of fatal collisions in Saskatchewan involved alcohol or drug impairment, according to SGI data for collisions causing more than $5,000 in damage.
The average of 35.2 driving deaths linked to impairment over those same five years is more than double the average of 17.4 deaths from distraction or inattention.
That's noteworthy because distracted driving ranks as a far bigger problem than impairment when it comes to collisions or injuries on our roads and highways.
Over the same five years, the average number of collisions in Saskatchewan from distracted driving was 3,907.8, more than five times the average for impaired driving (689). Injuries over the same period averaged 732.4 from distracted driving, more than twice that from impaired driving (368.8).
But the number of deaths linked to impaired driving makes it difficult to ignore the problem. So one more tool for police to try to curb the scourge is welcome.
And the problem stands out in Saskatchewan, more than in almost all other provinces.
In 2019, the most recent year for which comparative statistics are available, Saskatchewan dropped from its perch as the province with the highest rate of police-reported impaired driving incidents in Canada, according to information compiled by Statistics Canada.
Yet it's hardly a cause for celebration. Saskatchewan still ranked second in 2019, with 539 incidents per 100,000 people, behind only Prince Edward Island with 645 per 100,000.
That marked the first time in more than 20 years that Saskatchewan did not lead all provinces in this shameful statistic.
Saskatchewan still posted numbers more than twice the national rate (228) and well above the rate of any province outside Atlantic Canada.
This data may leave some wondering what's wrong with those folks in Regina and Saskatoon. Nothing, as it turns out.
Both of Saskatchewan's two largest cities recorded 2019 rates of impaired driving well below the national average: 183 for Regina and 177 for Saskatoon.
That suggests the problem in Saskatchewan lies outside the two largest urban areas. That's why the RCMP is announcing this approach instead of the Regina or Saskatoon police forces.
Only seven of Canada's largest municipalities had impaired driving rates above the national average and only two (Lethbridge and Edmonton) were located on the Prairies.
Prior to the change to the federal law in late 2018, Saskatchewan introduced harsher penalties for impaired driving in advance of the legalization of cannabis.
Under these new rules, those caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol could face an indefinite suspension of their driver's licence and the seizure of their vehicle for up to 60 days.
Those penalties were introduced the year prior to the statistics cited above that showed Saskatchewan with more than double the national rate of impaired driving.
Seven years ago, the province introduced penalties for those with a blood-alcohol level of .04 or higher, including vehicle and licence suspensions, adding to the more serious criminal offences if your blood-alcohol is .08 or more.
Sadly, more severe penalties appear to have failed. Despite all these measures, Saskatchewan's impaired driving problem persists.
Maybe we'll never solve it, but for those whose lives are lost, and their loved ones, we need to keep trying.