Impaired driving continues to take the lives of too many Manitobans, so our government is adopting tougher and more immediate sanctions against impaired drivers while keeping more police officers on the roads to catch them.
Beginning on Dec. 16, motorists who drink and drive will lose their driver’s licences, their vehicles and a lot of money through much stiffer penalties.
Under our changes to the Highway Traffic Act, immediate roadside prohibitions will be put in place against drivers who register a “warn” on approved screening devices used by police. These drivers face a new fine of $400 for a first offence, increasing to $500 for a second violation and $600 for a third or subsequent offence. Their vehicles will be impounded for three days for a first violation, seven days for a second offence and 30 days for a third or subsequent offence.
For first-offence drivers who register a “fail” on an approved screening device, but cause no injury or death, police will have the discretion to impose a fine of at least $700 as well as a mandatory ignition interlock for one year instead of a criminal charge.
These new sanctions are comparable to those applied after convictions and come on top of existing pre-conviction 90-day licence suspensions, 30-day vehicle impoundments and remedial programming.
Drivers who refuse the screening will face the same sanctions as they would for a “fail,” and a vehicle impoundment for 60 days.
As well, a “warn” reading will penalize the driver with five licence demerit points and with 10 demerits for a “fail” or refusal. The penalties for first-time refusals, and for drunk drivers who register a “fail,” will
apply only when their cases do not involve serious injury, death or other aggravating factors.
With these new penalties, drivers registering a “warn” face a cost of at least $700 for a first offence and $3,420 for a third or subsequent offence.
The minimum cost for failing a roadside screening will be $3,520, and refusal of a screening will cost at least $3,970.
These changes will be much more helpful to police. Officers will be able to proceed quickly with the tougher sanctions for drivers who fail roadside screenings for the first time, rather than spend hours processing criminal charges.
Since British Columbia implemented immediate roadside prohibitions in 2010, they are credited with helping to save 351 lives and reducing alcohol-related deaths by 50 per cent in that province.
Impaired driving accounted for 40 per cent of the 70 people killed on Manitoba roads last year. So far in 2019, at least 10 people have been killed in Manitoba because of impaired drivers.
With immediate roadside prohibitions, our government is hitting drunk drivers where it hurts while creating a culture of sober driving and improving traffic safety.
Please don’t drink and drive. Happy holidays!
Greg Nesbitt, Member of Legislative Assembly for Riding Mountain constituency.
He can be reached toll-free 1-844-877-7767 or gregnesbittmla@mymts.net.
