Drunk driving stats through the roof

[grumpydigger]

According to statistics released this morning (Wednesday) by the Kelowna RCMP, our region has seen a significant increase in the number of impaired driving charges or prohibitions laid so far this year.
Between January 1 and June 30, 2013, police recorded over 500 contacts that resulted in Impaired Driving charges or prohibitions under the Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) Program:

• Criminal Code Impaired / Refusal Charges: 13
• Immediate Roadside Prohibition Fail / Refusal: 359
• Immediate Roadside Prohibition Warn: 131

For comparison, that's a 262% increase in the number of contacts between January 1 and June 30, 2012:

• Criminal Code Impaired / Refusal Charges: 78
• Immediate Roadside Prohibition Fail / Refusal: 50
• Immediate Roadside Prohibition Warn: 64

According to police, the disparity can be attributed to the suspension of the Immediate Roadside Prohibition program and the hard work conducted by police to improve road safety. Drunk driving stats through the roof - Kelowna News - Castanet.net

 

[petros]

Drunks or are they starting to nail the stoners, sleep impaired, or just plain, good ol', God bless 'em, mentally impaired?

 

[grumpydigger]

true .08s down from 78 to 13 but civil impaireds what do not have to be proven in court or allow people to defend them selves up 262%.

 

[petros]

true .08s down from 78 to 13 but civil impaireds what do not have to be proven in court or allow people to defend them selves up 262%.

24hr roadsides aren't impaired convictions.

What we have here is a drop in convictions and not skyrocketing at all.

That is something to cheer about.

 

[grumpydigger]

these are not24hr roadsides bc has a civil law that the cops are using so they can bypass the courts . its easy when then do do have to have real proof in a court of law

 

[petros]

24hr roadsides is what has increased and impaired convictions have dropped.

 

[grumpydigger]

your right, but the increases are NOT 24 hr road sides. with a hand screener they can take your car for 90 days suspend your license for a year and force you to put in a car start interlock and you cannot defend your self in a court of law because its civil not criminal

 

[The Old Medic]

I believe that the ONLY way to stop impaired driving is to impound the vehicle being driven at the time.

First offense, 30 days of vehicle impoundment, along with any criminal/civil penalties.

Second offense, vehicle impoundment for 12 months, in addition to any criminal/civil penalties. You also lose the right to have a vehicle registered in your name for 5 years.

3rd offense, confiscation of the vehicle. Permanent loss of the right to drive, or to have any vehicle in your name. No person living at the same address is allowed to have a vehicle registered. You are permanently barred from driving, along with any criminal/civil penalties.

The impoundments would be at YOUR expense. It would not matter if you owned the vehicle, or not. If it was rented/leased, you would still have to pay the fees involved, during the period of impoundment. If the vehicle belongs to a family member or friend, that's their own fault for loaning their vehicle to an irresponsible person.

If this was done, very few people would allow their vehicle to be driven by anyone that is not responsible. After a first offense, you would be a fool to allow anyone that has been convicted of DUI to drive.

Rent-a-Car companies would refuse to rent a vehicle to a person banned. No dealer would be allowed to either sell, or lease a vehicle to such a person. And, family members and friends would have to be crazy to ever allow such a person to drive anything that had an engine in it.

Until society decides that this is NOT a victimless crime, and that they will no longer tolerate this behavior, nothing much will change.

 

[karrie]

I disagree Medic, because punishing a family for the sins of one member is never going to fly well in court.

The way we try to tackle drunk driving right now is via punishments while free. Stop punishing people with stuff, they obviously can afford fines and impounds, and blow boxes etc.

Punish them with jail time.

 

[grumpydigger]

yes but do you believe that the courts should be completely bypassed and just a roadside screening devise and the word of a cop not a true Breathalyzer is proper..

 

[petros]

Immediate Roadside Prohibition Fail / Refusal: 359

The smoking gun.