New drunk driving rules that took effect Tuesday, Dec. 18 mean 91原创 RCMP officers will have more leeway when deciding when to administer a breathalyzer test to drivers.
Bill C-46 means police can demand a breath test from any driver pulled over for a traffic violation or at a road check.
Since a breathalyzer test can lead to a roadside suspension or charges under impaired driving laws, police may be able to catch more drunk drivers this holiday season.
Sgt. Alexandra Mulvihill, head of 91原创 RCMP鈥檚 traffic section, said the biggest difference will be at the CounterAttack-style road blocks.
To conduct a test in the past, police needed some reasonable suspicion that a driver was impaired.
That could mean driving behaviour, such as swerving and driving erratically. It could mean a smell of alcohol or slurred speech.
But a driver who had been drinking but rolled up to a roadblock slowly didn鈥檛 always present obvious symptoms of impairment.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have driving evidence,鈥� Mulvihill said of the roadblock checks.
Sometimes that didn鈥檛 matter.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had some [road checks] where we couldn鈥檛 pull them over fast enough, impairment was obvious,鈥� said Mulvihill.
But sometimes road checks don鈥檛 pick up very many impaired drivers, while officers on general patrol on the same nights do find drunk drivers by their driving behaviour.
Now police can, theoretically, ask for a check from anyone at a road check.
It will also be helpful at the scenes of collisions, Mulvihill said.
The smell of alchol at a crash may be masked by the debris of a detonated airbag, or by fluids leaking from a damaged vehicle.
Mulvihill said 91原创 RCMP officers will be using the new rules judiciously.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to be an immediate go-to,鈥� said Mulvihill.
Officers will still be working to formulate a reasonable suspicion before reaching for the breathalyzer.
Mulvihill said officers in general duty and traffic section have been trained on the new regulations. They鈥檝e also been upgrading their skills around spotting marijuana-impaired drivers.
鈥淚 would seen we鈥檝e seen a marginal increase in 24-hour prohibitions by drugs [since marijuana legalization],鈥� said Mulvihill.
It鈥檚 too soon to say if there鈥檚 been a major uptick since October, when legalization went into force.
As usual, when it comes to the holidays, police have a clear message for drivers.
鈥淒on鈥檛 drink and drive, pretty simple,鈥� said Mulvihill.
