Stiff drinking and driving penalties go into effect Monday
Posted September 16, 2010 6:11 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If you are caught drinking and driving or speeding in B.C., get ready for some tougher penalties. New rules come into effect on Monday.
If you fail a roadside breath test, you face a three month driving ban and will have to install an interlock ignition.
Speeders will also face more car impoundment. RCMP superintendent Mike Diack with Traffic Services says cops will now spend less time doing paperwork. He says, “We can process an impaired driver who fails a breathalyzer at the side of the road in under 30 minutes. Before it would take 12-18 hours.”
Penalties for drivers who fail roadside breath tests are welcome news for Laurel Middelaer, who lost her daughter Alexa to an impaired driver over two years ago. “Our goal of a reduction in fatalities of impaired driving by 35 per cent by the year 2013 is aggressive, yet attainable.”
Drunk driving kills over 130 people a year in B.C.
