We get a lot of calls about the articles that appear in this newspaper. Some of the calls are good and some of them are let's just say they're not good.
A recent article about the increase in drunk driving in Estevan has elicited a wide range of reactions. Naturally, the majority of the reactions are concerned about the continued spike in the number of DUI arrests each year. As was reported earlier this month, there were almost 200 arrests in 2012, a number that should send a shiver down the spine of anyone who drives in our city.
Clearly we have a large segment of the population who aren't getting the messages about the dangers of getting behind the wheel while drunk. Estevan more than doubled Weyburn in DUI busts and reportedly had more than Moose Jaw, a community with three times the number of residents. It's highly probable that Estevan would rank among the leaders in per capita DUI arrests in the country.
In response to the article that appeared in the Jan. 16 edition of The Mercury, we got a call last week from a reader who suggested that it might be prudent to look at why there is such a drunk driving problem here.
The caller, while not condoning the action of impaired drivers, had a few ideas on why there's been such a startling increase.
The suggestion of looking at the root cause is a valid one since the problem isn't going to be solved unless we figure out why it is happening in the first place.
Is it, as the caller noted, partially due to a lack of cabs in the area? It would come as no surprise to anyone who has gone out for a night on the town in Estevan that getting a cab ride home is, to be polite, a challenge. It's pretty clear there are not enough cabs to serve the demand on weekends, despite what the owner of a local company said in one of the stranger visits to city council in recent memory.
Again, we are not condoning this, but is the inability to get a cab prompting some people to get behind the wheel when they shouldn't be? The likely answer is yes. To those drivers who chose that path, we suggest a nice pair of walking shoes but acknowledge in the depths of winter that isn't always a viable alternative. Of course neither is drunk driving.
Another thought is that we are just too accepting of drunk driving as a community. In some communities, being arrested for drunk driving carries such a stigma that people take great pains to ensure they don't drink and drive. Here, it's a badge of honour to some.
As a newspaper, we have faced a strong backlash in cases where we have reported on certain DUI cases. Oddly, people were angrier that we dared to publish the name of the offender than they were that the person chose to drive drunk and put the life of others in danger. If we have a city of enablers then clearly something needs to be done to improve that mentality.
We're not sure what agency might conduct such a study, but it would be worth taking a look into why Estevan has such a high rate of drunk driving.
As the 2012 numbers show, it has become something of an epidemic. Even scarier - it's just a matter of time before someone is killed.
