Decriminalized NOT unpunished. Instant license loss is a pretty strong penalty.
Full disclosure - I got my car towed immediately for not having up to date stickers on my plate. Yes it cost a lot of money to bail out of the yard; I had to pay OT towing charges because it was a Sunday morning and there was a fine. No criminal charges. I would say I was adequately punished.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/drunk-driving-laws-decriminalize-2018-changes-police-licence-1.4468021
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That was unfair to have your car towed for expired tags. Still, the headline on this startles me! Gads, I have known so many people maimed for life or who lost loved ones to drunk drivers. I'll read the story and see what this is about.
ReplyDeleteI did and the issue is complicated. I have mixed feelings about this change.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it was. We get many warnings and there are many options for paying. I just didn't. I now have it on auto renew.
ReplyDeleteThing is, people who get off on the criminal charges also get out of any fines. People are very motivated to get out of criminal charges. They should be motivate not to drink and drive.
I can understand the decriminalization to some degree, as in not having it as a mark on your criminal record. But I would not vote to decriminalize it. Further, it's my opinion that someone who drives impaired due to alcohol should have their licence pulled, demerits applied, car towed, and they should be forced to watch heart wrenching films about people who've lost their children to drunk assholes like them. I have zero tolerance for that behaviour.
ReplyDeleteAs to the registration/sticker being out of date, I have mixed feelings about it - in Alberta, it's basically a cash cow (albeit maybe small). There's no reason why a vehicle's registration should need to be paid for every year to be renewed. Once you register it, it's yours until you transfer registration ... it's not as if the information in the database is going to decay over time.
Be that as it may, I was once pulled over for not having my stickers up to date, and they let me off with a warning. I'm not sure why, exactly, maybe it's because I had been driving the same car for a decade? Maybe the cop was actually looking for something more serious? Or maybe he felt the same as I do about it (they are human too, after all).
Drunk drivers should be immediately banned from driving for a year.... And for a 2nd offence, the ban should be life long!
ReplyDeleteMichael Ireland I was let off a speeding ticket and there was a trainee. I was told they had not flexibility with this violation. I had my insurance or that would have been a $600 additional touch. I am lucky to be affluent and consider it a lesson learned.
ReplyDeleteIf decriminalization unclog courts while continuing to punish offenders I'm all for it. With immediate suspension for everyone who blows over is fair. Run a check sample then have person blow.
Play stupid games; win stupid prizes. This is totally under a person's control.
From a quick reading, it's not decriminalized: the province might bring criminal charges later on. It seems more arbitrary.
ReplyDeleteAny criminal charges would not just be drink driving but the result of drunk driving. The big fines are a preventative action (against hurting someone while driving drunk.) Killing/maiming has the same effect on the recipient regardless of how impaired you are.
ReplyDeleteCass Morrison Thanks, I had misunderstood.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit on both sides of it. I'm in favour of de-cluttering the courts with the cases. BUT the problem here is there is no due process - the officer is judge, jury, and executioner. And you can bet that if the there was a legal battle over it, and the person was declared not guilty by way of, let's say because this has happened, defective breathalyzer units, there is NO equally swift reversal process or reparations. And god help the soul when it comes to their insurance!
ReplyDeletePull them off the road tow the vehicle if necessary, but final sentencing shouldn't be able to be carried out (long-term suspensions, fines, etc) until an accurate blood-based test can conclusively prove the alcohol in their system. Letting it all hang out on the side of the road is far too easy to be mis-used or abused by a rogue cop on a power trip. And all it takes is one bad one to paint them all ...
Wish this was one of those black and white issues, but there will be constitutional challenges with it tying up the courts (irony!) for some time.
Clinton Hammond The problem with banning them is, how do you stop them from driving without a liscence if they have shown no regard for the law already.
ReplyDeleteBrian Arbenz I actually remember being in court as a witness for an unrelated case and actually seeing a guy who had been arrested for drunk driving being found guilty, having the judge require that he turn in his permit, and the guy admitting that his permit was already suspended for drunk driving.
ReplyDeleteThe crown attorney got reamed.
Chris Pollard I think the main thing is to get them off the road and ensure the punishment is swift and appropriate. Criminalizing does nothing to accomplish those 2 things.
ReplyDeleteI have worked with Restorative Justice groups attempting to de-bureaucracratize and re-humanize criminal justice. This Alberta bill partly is in agreement with that movement, but partly not. Take a person pulled over, if they fail the breathalyzer test, to immediately do community service and/or meet with someone nearby who has been harmed by drunk driving and hear their story. These methods can work more often than a courtroom/jail shuffle where accountability by an offender is not emphasized.
ReplyDelete