Comments on: The Tough BC Drunk Driving Laws – An Attempt to Protect the Innocent, or a Self-Serving Money Grab?

By: hugo regier

hugo regier — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:20:14 +0000

would the new laws have been enacted had Berners victim been a homeless person or petty criminal? the basis behind this new legislation is relieving the govt. of having to hire more judges and prosecutors plus a tidy little cash grab

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 11:14:45 +0000

I’ve been following the Berner story, mainly because I can’t believe that thing has the nerve to appeal her sentence. Be thankful you received what you did.
IMO once you get into the drivers seat and start the car, you should be charged with attempted murder, and if you kill someone, no more of this manslaughter B.S. but first degree murder. Are people that daft nowadays you don’t know the possible results?
I look forward to see if the judge gives her a lesser sentence. Personally I hope he comes back with an even longer one, but being Canada I’m doubtful.

Two nights ago just down the road in Fort Erie (aprx. 35 km away) a drunk driver crashed into another car.
The passenger of the other car died. As for the drunk? Like always, she walked away fine.

I thought it was just me, but I’ve notice drunk driving rates going up over the past few years.
This is why I avoid if at all possible riding past 9pm, as I have encountered impaired drivers. As if it’s not bad enough for cyclists on Canadian roads, we have to share them with drunks as well.

I live down the street from Port Dalhousie, which is stocked full of bars during the summer. Despite being waken nightly by drunk university students walking by, I also hear cars racing by at high speeds, when I look out (to make sure those students are causing damage to my area) I see cars weaving around.
Look at what happened this past year with this woman (who did pass my house):
http://www.thedrunkdrivingmasses.com/2010/04/port-dalhousie-crash-under-microscope.html

Perhaps someone else knows better, but I’ve heard some European countries have a zero tolerance for ANY alcohol in the system while driving.
Of course when Ontario changed the legal limit people actually complained. So I guess hopes of absolute zero tolerance will never happen.

I’m not sure how holiday ride programs are in BC, but I’m tired of the OPP and media informing people WHEN and WHERE these checks are going to be.
Hopefully they have more spread out starting in a week or two for their Christmas blitz and do it nightly until New Years.
After all, how many times will we hear this, this year? “drove home drunk from a Christmas party and killed 4 people”.

By: Rob Syvertsen

Rob Syvertsen — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 05:11:01 +0000

I fully agree, I was thrilled when the new drunk driving laws were introduced! All the talk from the bars and restaurants whining about how they’ve lost business because of the new laws just makes me sick. Since when do businesses get to put profits before safety?

Where is the balanced reporting in the newspapers on this article? All they cover is the lost business at the bars, but what about increased business in cabs and hotels? No mention. What about the reduced accident rate? No mention. Just lost profits.

And Carol Berners punishment is a joke. 2 and a half years? She chose to operate a 4000 lb vehicle after consuming alcohol. That was not without consequences. She’s already been in jail for a year and gets 2x credit towards her sentence. Then she’s eligible for parole after serving only 2/3 of the term. At that rate she’s already out! Now she’s claiming she shouldn’t be punished because they had no right detaining her after she ran off the road and killed a child?!?

By: Alex P

Alex P — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 04:21:51 +0000

I used to see the roadside drinking and driving checks most weekends. I seem to remember there being cutbacks in the funding of this program a few years ago, and now I think the last time I saw one in my neighbourhood was 2006. Maybe they’re still out there in other areas, but certainly haven’t seen them near me recently.

By: D

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 03:07:33 +0000

And yet, if you want to operate a neighbourhood public house, you know, the kind of pub around the corner within stumbling distance, the City of Vancouver requires by law that you also provide one parking space for every 18.6 square metres of floor area open to the public in your establishment. The City of Vancouver effectively insists that bartenders dedicate their site to offering parking for their liquor-consuming patrons at a ratio of 1:2 (9 square metres for an average parking space, exclusive of drive aisle, for every 18 square metres of floor area). Presumably, somebody at the City of Vancouver has a good reason for why they require bars to offer parking to their customers, when the province as a whole is attempting to be tough on drinking-and-driving.