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economist suntribune social issues thursday aug 15 2002 staff photomike barrett york regional police sgt tom carrique holds up a roadside breathalyzer outside one of the forces ride trucks advocacy groups such as mothers against drunk driving want the bloodalcohol limit lowered from 08 to 05 lowerina bar on drunk drivina tolerance by lisa queen staff writer as mother marilyn bobel braces herself for the 10th anniversary of the drunk driving accident that took her sons life she is urging leg islators to support renewed efforts to reduce canadas criminal impaired driving limit steve bobel 22 was killed in newmarket sept 6 1992 when david jones slammed into his car while rushing his doberman pinsch- er to a veterinarian he had taken his mothers car without insurance mr jones who had already been convicted twice for impaired driv ing had more than twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood two months after killing mr bobel he pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death now mrs bobel is pleading with politicians to reduce the legal blood alcohol level from 008 per cent to 005 per cent madd mothers against drunk driving canada the centre for addiction and mental health the canadian medical association and the canadian public health association are lobbying the federal government to reduce the criminal code legal limit to 005 per cent the federal justice committee is scheduled to look at the issue this fall opponents of the initiative argue the lower limit is a simplistic kneejerk reaction that wont get habitual drunk drivers off the road but mrs bobel stands behind dropping the legal limit i feel its a good thing because people who are blowing 008 are borderline and are getting off reducing it we would get the peo ple who are blitzed she said i wish it was zero tolerance but that isnt realistic sgt tom carrique with york regional polices traffic unit would welcome dropping the legal limit to 005 per cent or 50 milligrams of alcohol in 100 miililitres of blood any effort to reduce impaired driving on the roadways of york region we as a traffic unit are in favour of it he said it will change driver behaviour the less you drink before driving the safer youre going to be if you ultimately drink nothing thats the safest decision in the first quarter of 2002 there were 125 alcoholrelated traffic col lisions in york region virtually the same as last years firstquarter results of 126 however there have been more drunk driving fatalities this year six people have been killed so far this year compared to three for all of last year at the moment drivers who blow over 005 per cent have their licences suspended for 12 hours sgt carrique argues a driver can repeatedly have his licence sus pended without facing stiffer penal ties that come with blowing over the legal 008 per cent limit reducing the legal limit would be a criminally legislated offence with greater penalties he said adding police also have the option of laying impaired driving charges even if a driver blows far below the legal limit i see nothing but benefits from a move to reduce the bac blood alcohol concentration sgt carrique was unable to pin point how many drinks it would take to blow over 005 or 008 argu ing it depends on the persons tol erance for alcohol their body weight and how quickly they are consuming liquor but he said a small glass of wine with dinner wouldnt likely put somebody over a 005 per cent blood alcohol level he dismissed suggestions lower ing the legal limit would tax police and court resources or make it more difficult to blame alcohol alone as the cause of collisions i see nothing but benefits from a move to reduce the bac blood alcohol concentration not everyone embraces sgt carriques opinion however the canadian safety council opposes the move based on results of a study it commissioned by prof david paciocco with the faculty of law at the university of ottawa he concluded countries with legal limits of 005 per cent or lower generally used fines or suspensions rather than criminal laws for drivers with that level of alcohol in their systems canada would be using criminal laws if it amended the criminal code making conduct criminal is societys ultimate condemnation the criminal code of canada addresses transgressions such as murder robbery and assault that violate basic societal norms the next step in canadas fight against impaired driving is not to lower the criminal bac but to make existing legislation work better the study said resources are urgently needed to help police enforce the 008 per cent limit to enable courts and crown attorneys to process charges efficiently and to treat offenders with problems terry mundell president of the ontario restaurant hotel and motel association said his organi zation doesnt support decreasing the legal limit arguing the hospital ity industry could lose business the bottom line is people are very very aware of drinking and driving theyre concerned as you reduce this level there is more chance they could face criminal charges and may refrain from any alcohol consumption while out you could have business concerns stressing industry members face extensive training on drinking and driving mr mundell argued studies indicate reducing the legal limit does nothing to crack down on habitual drunk drivers mr mundell stressed the way to solve drunk driving is stepped up police enforcement to apprehend truly inebriated drivers but rin van hermet a member of madd york region and the regional spokesperson for the ontario community council on impaired driving feels strongly reducing the legal limit to 005 per cent will save lives lobbyists for reducing the bac want to save peoples lives and to lower it to that level then people will get the message that you are impaired by the time you hit 008 per cent she is urging legislators not to ignore pleas to reduce the legal limit i know if some of these judges if their kids were killed or our politicians the laws would change a lot 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