While they haven’t been found guilty of their accused crime, three drivers are expected to be facing charges of impaired driving after they were involved in accidents in the Shuswap over New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Mothers Against Drinking and Driving, a group whose purpose is to stop needless deaths and injuries, notes that impaired driving continues to be a deadly problem in Canada.
On average, the website notes, drinking and driving still claims between 1,250 and 1,500 lives and causes more than 63,000 injuries in Canada each year.
“Young people are at particular risk. Approximately 45 per cent of youth crash deaths are alcohol-related, and statistics indicate that one in every three people who dies in an alcohol-related crash is under the age of 25.
“Despite federal and provincial/territorial laws and penalties, police enforcement and awareness efforts, and despite the obvious risk of crash, death and injury, Canadians are still getting behind the wheel impaired. The estimated number of impaired driving trips taken in Canada each year is 12.5 million.
“It doesn’t just happen on the roads. Every year, people are also killed on boats, ATVs and snowmobiles because the operators and/or riders are impaired.
“The excuses for driving impaired are plentiful. ‘I’ve only had a few.’ ‘I feel fine to drive.’ ‘I’m only going down the street.’ But they are also meaningless when that driver kills or injures someone.
We have all heard of tragic accidents, some in this region, involving drivers who have been drinking and driving. Families and friends of victims are left with holes in their lives, simply because someone didn’t bother to make arrangements for their transport after drinking. Or, someone didn’t bother to step in and stop serving the driver alcohol or make sure they didn’t get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
While the impaired driver is completely responsible for the results of their actions, the many people who witnessed a driver’s progression and stood by are not without blame.
As MADD emphasizes: “The deaths and injuries caused by impaired driving are 100 per cent preventable.”