A lot was said about impaired driving in the Estevan area during a meeting hosted by the Estevan Police Service (EPS) last week.
But one of the strongest messages coming out of the meeting is to have so much attention paid to the issue that impaired driving rates have to go down.
The good news is that impaired driving seems to be on the decline in Estevan, as they have decreased annually since 2013. And in recent years, the number of check stops in the community has increased, as the EPS, the RCMP and other agencies have ramped up their enforcement efforts.
Last week’s meeting was another example of the effort to further reduce impaired driving in Estevan.
But we need more than just talk from dedicated people who have good intentions. We need some action.
The issues associated with impaired driving in Saskatchewan are not a state secret. Kids are told about the risks from an early age. They attend classroom presentations and they watch videos.
Anti-drunk driving organizations, by law enforcement agencies, the media and so many more have drilled home the need to half drunk driving.
The government has created tougher punishments for those who choose to drive while impaired, including stiffer punishments for those caught driving with a blood alcohol content between .04 and .08.
Yet no matter how stiff the punishments are, no matter how tough the government talks about the issue, no matter how great the emotional appeal, some people continue to get behind the wheel while they’re impaired.
There is absolutely zero excuse for impaired driving.
We’ll see which recommendations from last week’s meeting are eventually implemented. Will the police decide to publish the names of those charged for impaired driving? It was done for a few weeks in 2015, during the fallout of a couple of high-profile and serious impaired driving collisions in the city.
While people wouldn’t be happy to have their name published in the paper over an impaired driving arrest, there’s a simple way to prevent it from happening: don’t drive while impaired.
Weyburn’s police service has apparently experienced positive results with its “This Ride’s on Us” initiative that was introduced last year. It’s another means to provide a safe ride home. Given the similar size of the communities, it might be worth exploring in Estevan, at least in a modified fashion.
There were apparently some outside-the-box thoughts for reducing impaired driving at last week’s meeting. Time will tell whether they are practical in a city the size of Estevan.
Ideally, the best way to see a decline in impaired driving rates would be for people to stop driving while their blood alcohol content is over .04. Some have modified their behaviors as regulations have changed and as the punishments have changed.
But others will continue to drive drunk. These are the people who force us to have these meetings, and to have tougher laws.
These are also the people who cause us to feel a little less secure when we are driving or walking.
And it’s because of these people that vigilance and education is needed, and we need to always be looking at new ways to curb impaired driving.
