The author has been no supporter of the use of the breathalyzer since its introduction in Canada in the late 1960's. The reasons are several:
First, so called "drunk driving" is an offense of carelessness or desperation, not of violence; no one deliberately sets out to cause an accident, so the motivation for including this offense under the Criminal Code rather than provincial highway legislation has never been demonstrated. Its nature is technical rather than malicious, more akin to driving with inadequate brakes or an extinguished headlight than to other criminal offenses.
Second, to lay a charge under this section of the criminal code, there is no need to demonstrate any evidence of real impairment of driving ability.
Third, what is worst of all, there is no realistic opportunity for a driver to determine in advance what his or her blood alcohol level is, and so none to determine whether or not the driver is actually in violation of the law. Whenever questioned about the use of privately owned breath analysis equipment, police are generally discouraging. Such equipment, capable of multiple uses, is quite expensive, and I am not aware of its being made available at drinking establishments anywhere.
Fourth, this offense is virtually unique in the Criminal Code in that drivers are required to give evidence against themselves in a criminal matter.
Fifth, penalties have grown increasingly severe, including roadside suspensions with no effective appeal mechanism; this was the grounds under which the British Columbia law was recently found in violation of the Charter. Several provinces have imposed such penalties even when measured blood alcohol level is below the threshold in the Criminal Code, and of such length as they are purely punitive and cannot be justified by any pretense of protection of the public.
Sixth, police have increasingly gone over to enforcing this law by means of random spot checks, usually located in places where they remain invisible until the driver no longer has any alternative but to pass through the inspection; this activity exposes all vehicle occupants to the threat of citation under other laws, including seatbelt laws.
Seventh, governments at both the provincial and federal levels have fallen under the influence of the organization known as "MADD", which generally displays a cavalier attitude toward charter rights, has yet to proclaim itself satisfied regardless of how intrusive or draconian laws in this area become, and gives every appearance of being opposed, not just to "drunk driving" but to the use of beverage alcohol entirely. Despite its extensive involvement in lobbying for ever more severe laws regarding the use of alcohol, this organization continues to enjoy a status as a charity, thereby obtaining an indirect subsidy from all taxpayers.
Eighth, and finally for this list, it would be much preferable for the police we employ to be on patrol, looking for speeders, drivers violating red lights and stop signs, or actually exhibiting signs of reduced driving ability than standing by the roadside harassing whatever vehicle occupants happen to come their way. To those compelled to ask how I would feel if a drunk driver hit my car or that of a family member, my response is quite simple; that is a risk I am prepared to run to ensure the preservation of charter rights in this country.
Recently, Calgary police have complained that the location of their spot checks was being communicated on Twitter, thereby allowing some drivers to choose alternative routes and opt out of inspection. Needless to say, police have no right of privacy and no expection of confidentiality when they stand by a public street or highway and make demands of passing motorists. This use of the social media to make such information available is only to be encouraged, not just in Calgary, but across the country. Of course, communication of police activity need not be confined to "sobriety checks"; the location of accidents, radar traps, vehicle inspection sites, and other police activity could usefully be included in the flow of information.
How best to bring this about remains an open question. While useful to some extent, information communicated through Twitter is confined to those who "follow" a particular user, and attempts to use this particular medium might well result in useful information being spread across numerous pages within a community. Ideally, there should be one concentrated site for each community which gathers all reports of police activity and makes them generally available to all users. A useful model might be Kijiji, which establishes a separate page for each community, and generally allows both quick display of information and easy removal when it becomes obsolete. Unfortunately, despite having a presence on all of Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, this writer lacks the technical expertise to bring this about. This should be considered a call for help from those concerned about civil liberties in Canada and able to make a contribution toward this kind of locally concentrated information source.
Addendum:
It is disappointing, but not surprising, to find so many people objecting to the dissemination of information on police activities. To me, this reaction resembles the Stockholm Syndrome. The following quote from Azar Nafisi's book "Reading Lolita in Tehran" seems relevant: "The worst crime committed by totalitarian mind-sets is that they force their citizens, including their victims, to become complicit in their crimes. Dancing with your jailer, participating in your own execution, that is an act of utmost brutality."
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