On the face of it, the province's new impaired driving legislation, Bill 26, is clearly unjust.
Canadian law says an impaired driver is someone who registers a blood-alcohol level above .08. The new law will mean drivers who blow between .05 and .08, while not legally impaired, are "semi-impairedî and can be subject to relatively harsh "semi-punishmentî ñ three-day vehicle seizures ñ for committing a "semi-offence.î
The new law blurs the line between impairment and non-impairment and since clarity is an important part of any law, it muddies the waters on the very serious issue of drunk driving.
Proponents of the new law haven't helped by arguing that it will take impaired drivers off the road. This has infuriated the critics, since legally impaired drivers are covered under the present law and the new law is going after a different constituency ñ call them the semi-impaired.
The argument that other provinces (besides Quebec) have implemented similar laws can only go so far, since the same argument can be made about provincial sales tax and other initiatives. Albertans are known for making up their own minds about what is fair and what is right for Alberta.
Given the stretching of the law that is going on here, and the inability of some of its defenders to logically explain its purpose, it's no wonder there has been pushback from the public. And it's not just owners of bars and restaurants who are pushing back, but also responsible drinkers who feel they are being used as scapegoats to deal with a problem that they are not causing.
But there is another way of looking at the new legislation. Have a couple drinks and it might even start to make sense.
Despite the current law, impaired driving continues to have a devastating impact on families and communities. The provincial statistics ñ 569 deaths and 8,500 injuries during the last five years, 22 per cent of deaths provincewide ñ are not trifling figures. The law isn't quite working.
Bill 26, seen from a public safety standpoint, is not so much about the police being able to bust drivers who blow over .05. The idea is to make more people rule out drinking and driving as an option ñ because now that one extra drink could put them over the "newî limit. It means some people who would otherwise drink themselves into legal impairment will either not have that third, fourth or fifth drink, or will get a ride home. It's a scattergun approach, but based on the record in other provinces, it appears to have had some success.
Social engineering? Yes. Big Brother moving in again? Absolutely.
But what's the alternative, if drunk drivers keep killing themselves and others and destroying families? More enforcement of the current law is one way that's been suggested, but how much enforcement money and manpower can be dedicated and maintained?
In a kind of off-kilter, slightly drunken way, Bill 26 does have a built-in logic. With some critics predicting electoral defeat for the Redford Conservatives on this issue alone, however, whether Albertans are too sober to accept it remains a big political question mark.
