'Complacent' Sask. needs stricter impaired driving penalties

Thirty years ago, alcohol led to the deaths of 123 people on Saskatchewan roads.

Airbags, increased seat belt use, and stricter drunk driving laws cut that number to 57 last year.

But members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving said Saskatchewan has not adopted effective enough measures to curtail impaired driving.

"We do have some mixed messages in this province," said WendellWaldron, a community leader in Regina with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Waldron said DonMcMorris' arrest and initial resignation from cabinet and subsequent reinstatement into the Saskatchewan Party caucus have setthe wrong example.

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He said for years, Saskatchewan "lagged behind" other jurisdictions in curtailing impaired driving.

Zero tolerance 'too difficult': minister

On Monday, Saskatchewan's minister responsible for SGIcalled impaired driving "a generational thing."

"It takes a generation to change it," said Joe Hargrave, defendingSGI's workeducating the public about the dangers of impaired driving.

Hargravesaid it would be "too difficult" to adopt zero tolerance laws for motorists who have consumed alcohol, and said cutting fatality rates will take time.

"At the end of the daySGIis not going to fix this problem, the government is not going to fix this problem," Hargravesaid.

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Hargravesaid tougherdrunk driving laws which took effect in January have shown "preliminary" success in lowering alcohol-related fatality rates.

Hargraveand MADDboth cited Uber and ride-sharing services as another "tool" municipalities use to cut drunk driving rates.

Still, only seven of last year's alcohol-related traffic deaths occured on urban roads. The rest took place on rural roads, reserves, orprovincial highways.

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The minister said the province will not rule out stiffer penalties for impaired driving,but believed seizing vehicles from drivers with a blood alcohol content of .04 is already "enough to jolt people into making that right decision."

Adopt B.C. model, advocates say

Waldronsaid this is the time for Saskatchewan lawmakers to pass "criminal level immediate roadside prohibitions."

Officials in British Columbia can seizea motorist's vehicle for 30 days if that driver's blood alcohol content exceeds 0.08.

"That is the single biggest reason why British Columbia has reduced the fatalities on their roads by 54 per cent," Waldron said. "We've got to be careful because we're about to move into the whole marijuana legalization issue next year."

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"If we don't move as quickly as we should with respect to theseimpaired driving issues we're going startto replicate the same mistakes thatwe've made with alcohol with marijuana," said Waldron.

"That becomes a very dangerous situation here in this province."