Ignition interlock program is coming
By Kevin Crush
Sun Media
June 17, 2008

Minister of Transportation Luke Ouellette is to announce today new rules making it mandatory for drivers convicted of having twice the legal limit or higher of alcohol in their blood to have alcohol sensors attached to their vehicle's ignition.

Convicted drivers will not be allowed to drive again without having the sensors attached. The Mandatory Ignition Interlock Program will start July 1.

It's a step in the right direction, said Mothers Against Drunk Driving Edmonton chapter president Gladys Shelstad.

POSITIVE ACTION

"Any action that is taken to ensure the safety of society and the people around us against a possible reoffender of drunk driving is a bonus."

However, she said it doesn't go far enough, questioning why it's not being applied to all drunk drivers.

"The part I don't understand is why twice over the legal limit? What kind of message are they sending that they are a worse impaired driver if you're twice over the legal limit as opposed to just above the legal limit?" said Shelstad.

Ignition interlocks will not allow a vehicle to start up until a person blows into the sensor.
If the sensor detects a certain level of alcohol in the breath sample, the interlock will not allow the vehicle to start.

Currently, drivers convicted of impaired driving face a minimum sentence of a one-year driver's licence suspension but judges can allow convicts to voluntarily take part in the interlock program and begin driving again with a restricted licence after three months.

Under the new rules, if a driver is caught with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit, even after the minimum licence suspension they cannot get their licence back without taking part in the interlock program for at least six months.

NO SYMPATHY

For a mother who just lost her son to a driver cops suspect was drunk, the change is good news.

"Obviously, it's going to curtail drinking and driving," said Carol Martin, whose 25-year-old son, Cpl. Scott Michael Roberts of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, was killed Saturday morning when a car in the wrong lane of Highway 37 slammed into his motorcycle.

Martin, a reporter in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for SooToday.com was covering the court case of a woman convicted of killing a cop while driving drunk just 24 hours before getting the news of her son's death.

She sees issues with the devices such as people not being able to afford them or asthmatics not being able to provide a strong enough breath sample.

But when it comes to drunk drivers, she says the arguments don't fly.

"Honestly, I could bleed purple piss for them."