In the past three months federal laws on impaired driving have changed significantly, but changes to enforcement havenB次元官网网址檛 been as extreme as some feared.
On Oct. 17 cannabis was legalized and legislation was added to account for driving while high. Since Dec. 18, stricter laws focusing on drinking and driving were also enacted. These changes include mandatory Breathalyzer compliance, a two-hour window within which people must prove their sobriety, and harsher penalties if found impaired.
On paper, these stricter laws hold potential for abuse; a sober person could theoretically have their driving reported, go home and have a drink, and then have an officer show up at their door to demand a breath test. The onus would then be on them to prove that within two hours before driving they were sober.
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Comparatively, testing for THC levels from using cannabis is also hard to determine without a blood test, something most traffic enforcement officers wonB次元官网网址檛 carry or be trained to use.
B次元官网网址淚t really is a disturbing scheme when altogether,B次元官网网址� said Sarah Leamon, a criminal defence lawyer who specializes in impaired driving. B次元官网网址淲ill it be subject to Charter challenges? Yeah, absolutely.B次元官网网址�
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That being said, these legal changes have yet to see a large amount of difference on the ground.
According to the Victoria Police Department, since Oct. 17 officers have taken 25 drivers off the road for drug impairment, though itB次元官网网址檚 not clear if these drugs were cannabis or illicit drugs.
In the same time frame, 91 people were taken off the road due to alcohol impairment, numbers that VicPD spokesperson Const. Matt Rutherford said are not grossly different than usual.
The biggest changes theyB次元官网网址檝e seen, he added, is in the departmentB次元官网网址檚 training.
B次元官网网址淲e have more people training in both standard field sobriety testing (SFST) and we have more drug recognition experts (DRE) throughout our front line staff,B次元官网网址� Rutherford said in an emailed statement.
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When asked how police might handle enforcing mandatory breath tests, Rutherford noted that unless it was part of an active situation police are unlikely to go door to door to see if someone has been drinking.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e too busyB次元官网网址� weB次元官网网址檙e not just going to go inside a bar and test people to see if theyB次元官网网址檝e been driving in the past two hours, B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭he point is to get drunk drivers off the road, and we conduct our rights to do so as the law allows.B次元官网网址�
Leamon also noted that she hasnB次元官网网址檛 seen a significant changes in police enforcement since the laws were enacted, but was still skeptical that any abuse of power wouldnB次元官网网址檛 happen somewhere in the country.
B次元官网网址淚 guess weB次元官网网址檙e trusting the state not to overstep their authority,B次元官网网址� Leamon said. B次元官网网址淣ot that theyB次元官网网址檝e done that before.B次元官网网址�
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