IMPAIRED DRIVING PENALTIES AREN'T WORKING

An article in last Saturday’s Guardian – “Percentage spike: Impaired driving reports up 47 per cent on P.E.I. in 2018" – should be a cause for concern for the P.E.I. government. According to Statistics Canada, there were 639 reports last year compared to only 428 in 2017. This increase of 211 is the third highest in the country. It's also the highest percentage spike for P.E.I. in the last 20 years.

You can add to that the unknown number of impaired drivers who were not caught. The statistics don’t say anything about collisions, injuries or death, and property damage caused by impaired drivers. There is scarcely a day that goes by that court proceedings reported in The Guardian do not include a number of impaired driving convictions. While it is mostly males, there seems to be an increasing number of females who are charged as well.

The age range varies from teens to seniors. Despite higher fines, loss of licence and jail time on conviction, these penalties don’t seem to have the desired effect. Many are repeat offenders. Compounding the problem is impairment by drugs, including marijuana, sometimes combined with alcohol. With the now legalized sale of marijuana, the new provincial government is musing about allowing the sale of beer and wine in convenience stores. Great. Easier access to these products is what is needed, the thinking seems to be. While it can be assumed that most people consume alcohol responsibly, a significant number of the population do not.

I fail to see how allowing easier access to alcohol, or intoxicants in any form, might contribute to fewer impaired driving charges. So what is the solution – yet even more severe consequences imposed by the government and judicial system? Hasn’t seemed to work so far. Maybe a sociological study should be done to try and figure out why offenders choose to impair their minds in this way, putting themselves and others at risk.

David MacCallum, Charlottetown