Part two of a series on how the tragic death of young girl changed the culture of drinking and driving in B.C.
Impaired driving deaths have been cut in half over the past decade in B.C.
The drastic drop follows the introduction of harsh new rules in 2010, just a few hundred metres from her home in Delta in May 2008.
A police officer is now able to immediately ban a drunk driver from getting behind the wheel for 90 days, as well as hand them a $500 fine. Before, police could only stop someone with a 24-hour ban.
A squad of officers, , has spent the past 10 years cracking down on drunk driving, bringing the 102 related deaths in 2008 down to 53 in 2016 (the latest year that numbers are available).
| Officers join Alexa's Team at an annual ceremoney. (Tracy Holmes/Peace Arch News) |
Now, with , officers who are part of Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team are faced with a new set of challenges: How to investigate, charge and convict someone for drug-impaired driving.
Chief among the challenges is how to determine impairment, especially in a way that will hold up in court.
Sgt. Pat Davies leans forward onto a boardroom table in the Langley office of the province91裸聊视频檚 traffic division. He and the other 2,400 members of Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team worry about how many lives could be lost before society understands how deadly drug-impaired driving is.
91裸聊视频淲e91裸聊视频檙e basically where we were societally, in the 1940s or the 1950s, with regards to liquor, now with regard to drugs,91裸聊视频� says Davies.
91裸聊视频淭here91裸聊视频檚 no unanimity in the medical community in terms of what constitutes impairment and we don91裸聊视频檛 have any reliable instruments that will tell us 91裸聊视频楾his person is impaired.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
B.C. has proposed a 90-day driving ban for anyone caught high while driving. But there is currently that police can use to conduct a roadside test. The federal marijuana legalization bill, though, would give police the power to demand blood and saliva samples.
Several companies, including Vancouver-based Cannabix Technologies, are in the process of developing one, but neither the finished product, nor approval for Ottawa, will come in time for legalization this summer.
91裸聊视频淚t takes years to develop,91裸聊视频� Davies says. 91裸聊视频淚t has to go through testing and once a particular instrument is chosen, it has to be put into legislation and then down the road we91裸聊视频檝e got to arrange training91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 an impossible calendar.91裸聊视频�
| Police view immediate 90-day administrative roadside prohibitions as key to keeping impaired drivers off the road. (Katya Slepian/Black Press Media) |
Instead, police will have to use physical signs to try to determine if a driver is high. But there isn91裸聊视频檛 a foolproof method to do that.
91裸聊视频淪o few police officers are trained as drug recognition experts to do field sobriety testing, to do drug recognition testing, that the capacity to deal with hit isn91裸聊视频檛 there,91裸聊视频� says retired RCMP Insp. Ted Emanuels, who helped launch Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team.
Despite calls for a delay from senators, Indigenous leaders and others, the Trudeau government has in its plan to legalize recreational marijuana by the summer.
Emanuels said U.S. states have defined limits for the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC, the high-inducing chemical in marijuana, in a driver91裸聊视频檚 blood system.
In Colorado, where pot has been legal since 2012, the limit is five nanograms of THC.
State law allows police there to arrest anyone based on 91裸聊视频渙bserved impairment,91裸聊视频� no matter the level of THC in their blood. The state does not have any breathalyzer-style technology to test for THC, instead relying on blood tests.
West Vancouver Police Sgt. Brock Harrington, who is on Alexa91裸聊视频檚 Team, believes bringing in, and enforcing, a similar limit in B.C. would have challenges.
91裸聊视频淐an I be the side of the road and ask for somebody91裸聊视频檚 urine? How do you physically get the evidence?91裸聊视频� Harrington says.
Testing blood or urine is currently the only way to test for THC, and could violate privacy laws.
91裸聊视频淚 don91裸聊视频檛 think the public understands how impairing marijuana is. It91裸聊视频檚 not your alcoholic stumbling drunk obnoxious,91裸聊视频� Emanuels says.
91裸聊视频淎lexa brought the awareness to the policing community over alcohol-impaired driving. It was the tipping point. We knew what we had [in that] and it allowed us to move forward and be successful.91裸聊视频�
Like us on and follow us on .
