New drinking-driving rules may be in for some tweaking rules, tweaking, may, New

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New drinking-driving rules may be in for some tweaking
Solicitor General says it's time to review the new stiffer penalties
Dan Burritt Nov 08, 2010 15:04:45 PM
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•Tens of thousands nabbed for new road rules
•Restaurant president predicts wine sales will drop
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) - Solicitor General Rich Coleman says he's pondering changes to BC's tough new drinking and driving rules. They've only been in place since September, but bars and restaurants say business has dried up since stiffer penalties were introduced.

Coleman thinks the penalties for drinking and driving are correct, but a review is in order. "Is there a piece of this law that needs to be adjusted to address issues of fairness, because we don't know yet, quite frankly. We're going to collect that information over the next month or so because the reality is we always said that after a couple of months we'd review this to see how it was working," he says.

A campaign to clarify the new penalties is being developed, in the meantime.  

Mothers Against Drunk Driving doesn't have much to say about Coleman's announcement, but the group's Manon Groulx says the laws have their support.

"We know they make our roads safer. They save lives by getting impaired drivers off the road quickly," she believes, adding that the organization is behind any review that strengthens the laws.


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Keep the harshness

This is ridiculous. Instead of loosening the law, which is there to prevent people from driving while impaired, encourage the bars to help their patrons make it home safely. It's a pretty backwards world when we'd consider helping bars and restaurants keep business above helping to keep dangerous drivers off the roads. And for those people who are contributing to the "drying up" of frequenting bars and restaurants...how hard is it to get a cab or have a designated driver? Before these laws were stiffened, they were driving impaired. Period. Why on earth would this be re-allowed? When we go out to a bar, we arrange who is driving home before we go. We take turns. It's not that hard!

Tired of leniency Nov 8, 2010 9:41 PM  

We all know what the problem is. We dare not deal with the people, too timid to tell them to their face that they are wrong, too chicken to be tough, too coward to correct people, so we lie, we pretend to be nice, we rather look like a nice guy and not willing to be right, not willing to upset anybody, therefore, we keep pretend we can fix the system and not to fix the people. We don't fix our kids, we don't fix ourselves. What part of that statement do we not understand?

no people skill Nov 8, 2010 9:30 PM  
New drinking-driving rules may be in for some tweaking

Are the drinking and driving laws targeting the real serious offenders? The young men with fast cars that drive home speeding, drunk racing and cause serious accidents that kill others and themselves. The taxie infrastructure in the lower mainland does not provide the service needed as I have experienced this first hand. by the time a taxie arrived after hours of waiting (after of having 3 glasses of wine over a 5 hour period) then being subjected to a terrible taxie driver. How safe was I or the other cars on the road. I trust my driving better then a taxie that is poorly maintained while my car is brand new. Are the drivers that have 3 glasses of wine over a 4 or 5 hour period the ones that cause the accidents? I don't think so!!!

Marion Nov 8, 2010 8:35 PM  
Good. These new laws are Over-kill

A family member of mine was forced to close down her restaurant after 13 years. The first straw was the HST. The last straw, the one thaf finally killed her enterprise, was the new Drinking and Driving Laws. People simply stopped coming out at night, opting to stay home and drink instead. The real problem, which I have said since Day 1 of this new legislation, is that the people who drove drunk before will still drive drunk no matter what the legal limit is. The only people being targeted by these new rules are the responsible ones who like to enjoy a glass of wine or two over dinner. And it's been a cash cow for the government at the expense of decent hard working responsible individuals. Unfortunately here in BC we always tend to go way overboard with every new piece of legislation we enact. Why didn't they just leave the limit alone at .08 and instead put in stiffer sentences for those people who drive drunk?

Farley Nov 8, 2010 8:18 PM  
Moronic Laws

These new Speeding and Drinking Laws are moronic. I hope many bars and restaurants have to lay off employees, close their doors and go out of business. This will force the electorate into action to have these silly overbearing laws reduced.

BiscottiGelato

My gf had to go clubbing w/ her friends over Halloween. That specific night the Aberdeen Skytrain station was dead. We had to walk 30 minutes in the rain to the Bridgeport station to take a skytrain down to downtown. Along with the bus ride to Aberdeen, it took us a total of 1.5 hours to get to downtown. The way back we took a cab, but it took us 20 minutes to get one (could've driven home for that amount of time), and the bill tallied to almost $40 dollars. Being clubbing which usually involve more than 1 drinks, sure it might be justified. Harassing honestly people with 1 drink over dinner to go through this ordeal? People are just going to stay home.

And the ones that drink way over limit and don't give a crap anyways will still not give a crap. What's the point?