In the News

MADD supports random testing
Letter to the Editor
The Windsor Star
November 7, 2009

Re: Breath tests, 'Random' versus rights, Star editorial, Nov. 3.

MADD Canada supports the enactment of random roadside breath testing because it is one of the most consistently effective ways to deter impaired driving. RBT has been in place in many countries, including Australia and much of the European Union, for decades and has been crucial to their success in lowering alcohol-related crash deaths.

Impaired driving crashes are Canada's leading criminal cause of death, claiming 1,278 lives in 2006. The number and percentage of alcohol-related crash deaths in Canada has increased since 1999. Millions of Canadians continue to drink and drive, largely because they have little fear of being stopped. Charge, conviction and public survey data indicate that, on average, a person would have to drive impaired once a week for more than three years before being charged, and for over six years before being convicted.

RBT allows police to screen a large number of drivers quickly, at roadside, to determine whether further investigation is required.

If it is, drivers will be afforded all the procedural and constitutional protection that is normally available to suspected impaired drivers.

Driving is a licensed and heavily regulated activity. Drivers are already required to stop at random, answer routine questions and provide licence and insurance information when requested by police. Providing a breath sample on a roadside screening device is simply an extension of these routine interventions.

All the tough sentences in the world will do nothing to reduce impaired driving if offenders go undetected.

RBT will improve detection rates, deter impaired driving, and ultimately, make Canada's roads much safer.

It is time for Canada to do more to protect its citizens from needless crashes. Canada should give the police the powers they need to detect impaired drivers before they cause a crash.

In our view, this is more than worth the slight inconvenience that RBT would pose to Canadian drivers.

ANDREW MURIE, Chief Executive Officer, MADD Canada, Oakville