Don’t give any drunk drivers a break
By Mindelle Jacobs
Edmonton Sun
June 18, 2008

Alberta's mandatory ignition interlock program for drunk drivers hasn't even begun yet and already experts are dumping all over it.

"Alberta failed miserably," says Andrew Murie, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). "If your target is not to bring (drunk drivers) back into the system, why ... only target the top 20%?"

Under the new rules, which kick in July 1, drivers who are convicted of having at least twice the legal limit of booze in their blood will be required to install alcohol sensors on their vehicle ignitions. And they'll have to pay for it.

Such drivers will be monitored monthly for at least six months.

Everyone convicted of impaired driving should have to participate in an ignition interlock program, says Murie and Doug Beirness, a research analyst with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.

But Alberta has decided to tiptoe slowly into a mandatory program. "We decided to start with the double and higher (blood-alcohol levels) just to see if that system works and if we have to change it, we'll change it," says Alberta Transportation spokesman Eileen McDonald.

Murie isn't impressed. "The magic is the interlock works," he says. "You can use it on everyone that's chosen to drink and drive."

Beirness is also puzzled by Alberta's reluctance to make the interlock system mandatory for all convicted impaired drivers. Studies have shown that there's about a 66% reduction in repeat drunk driving among people who participate in interlock programs, he adds.

"There is no reason to restrict it to certain types of offenders," Beirness says.

Around the world, interlock programs have become increasingly mandatory, he adds, Just about every jurisdiction in Canada and the U.S. has some type of interlock system and it's becoming more widely used in Australia and Europe.

"For most people, it is a very good way to get them to stop driving after drinking. It's the only way to stop them."

Without interlock systems, people will just drive while suspended, Beirness explains. Because of that, he advocates getting people on interlocks as soon as possible - instead of after a lengthy period of suspension.

"The sooner you get a person on the interlock program is the sooner you stop them from driving after drinking," says Beirness. "Any period of licence suspension gives them the opportunity to go out and drink and then drive."

Murie agrees. He points out that Ontario's interlock program forces convicted impaired drivers to sit out a full year of suspension before putting an interlock on their vehicles. "By the time the one-year hard suspension ends, they've all learned to drive suspended."

People can opt out of the interlock program if they accept an additional year of suspension in Ontario but that just encourages them to drive illegally, says Murie.
MADD would like to see drunk drivers put on interlocks for at least a year within 30 days of conviction.

Surveys suggest that up to 78% of drunk drivers continue to drive while suspended, notes Beirness. "Simply taking someone's licence away and saying, 'gee, you don't have a licence, you can't drive anymore,' - they laugh at you."

For once, it'd be nice if politicians actually listened to the experts.