The province is rolling out stiffer penalties Sunday that it hopes will be a buzzkill for impaired drivers thinking about getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.
The new penalties include longer license suspensions and vehicle seizures for drivers with blood-alcohol of .08 and above, and comes into effect July 1.
Parker Hogan, spokesman for Transportation Minister Ric McIver said the blood-alcohol levels, a Criminal Code offence, stays the same only the penalties have changed.
“If you were following the rules before you’ve got nothing to worry about,” he said.
Penalties for drivers over .08 now include an immediate license suspension, a three-day vehicle seizure, and the mandatory installation of an ignition interlock device in their vehicle for a year. The driver’s license will stay suspended until their matter is resolved in court.
Hogan said one distributor he’d spoken with said interlock device ranges between $1200 and $1500 depending on the vehicle.
The device requires a driver to provide a breath sample before you can start the car, and while the car is in operation.
But the new penalties are unsettling to Edmonton lawyer D’arcy Depoe who said there will likely be future constitutional challenges by lawyers’s of those accused.
“It’s almost a kind of legislative extortion because if you want to exercise your right to a trial you have to put up with not having your license until that trial occurs,” he said.
Depoe said the wait time for a trial is typically a year, but can be worse in rural areas like Bonnyville where trial dates are now scheduled into 2014.
“It’s not just them losing their license, for many it’s losing a likelihood, it’s causing family discord, it’s going to lead to financial loses,” he said.
Drivers caught blowing over .08 a second time will be slapped with a seven-day vehicle seizure and keep the interlock device in their vehicle for two years. A third offence another seizure of their vehicle for a week and five years with an interlock device.
“Police are now the investigator, judge and the punisher all right by the roadside,” said Depoe.
But Parker said the new provisions are only in the best interest of the public and all road users.
“All of this is done to ensure that when your on the road, I’m on the road, when your friends are on the road, they know that they are as safe as they can be,” said Hogan.
Further new provisions for motorist who blow between .05 and .08 on a breathalyzer will be introduced Sept. 1.
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