Throughout the past couple of years adjustments have been made to heighten the punishments of individuals convicted of driving under the influence. However, the roads appear to remain just as dangerous. What must be done to ensure that lives are not lost at the hands of an impaired driver?
Days before Christmas, there were two teens killed and one injured due to an alleged drunk driver. The victims were walking on the sidewalk in the East end of Toronto when they were struck by a car. They were all taken to the hospital immediately following the accident, where the two 19 year olds were pronounced dead shortly there after. The other victim had survived the accident physically, but he will always have the emotional scars that will last a lifetime. Police have released that he was the brother of one of the victims. The attachment to the news report is in the link below.
That is just one case of drunk driving taking someone’s life– what must be done to prevent innocent lives from being stolen? In 2018, there were updates to the impaired driving laws, followed by adjustments being made to the criminal code to support these new laws. The changes were as follows: mandatory alcohol screening, no more “bolus” alcohol defence– preventing the argument that the alcohol was just consumed and had not been completely absorbed, and updated penalties.
These adjustments to the laws and charges surrounding impaired driving are what I would call a good start. I could better rephrase my previous statement by saying that these charges and changes in the criminal code are an appropriate starting point for tackling the issue of impaired driving. However, I don’t believe that these are the last changes to ever be made– because to be quite frank, I don’t believe that these changes are strong enough.
I believe that the charges should be raised once again, and the punishments after several offences should be heightened. I am also insistent upon the victims and their families receiving therapy and other rehabilitation services funded by the government.
In 2014, MADD published the statistics on road crashes that were a result of impaired drivers– with the results being that road crashes claimed 2,297 lives. MADD organization sets out to inform the public of the backlash that comes from impaired driving and the ways in which it can tear families apart. In my opinion, more organizations, and alcohol and drug distribution companies should enforce the same morals and beliefs, to try to stop driving while impaired at the root of it.
My intention for writing this piece, is to shed light on the issue of driving impaired, and to assist in ‘pushing’ the people of Toronto to acknowledge the need for a change. I’ve never been known to be an activist for much, but this is one where I’m certain that it is necessary for my involvement. Innocent lives are being lost at the hands of impaired drivers, it is time for a change Toronto… and the time is now.
Citations
https://madd.ca/pages/impaired-driving/overview/statistics/
https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1861230
https://globalnews.ca/news/4769690/canada-impaired-driving-laws/
Brooklyn's blog 
As someone who has taken law courses, I can say that the sentences of these cases are unfortunate as impaired drivers can kill innocents. However the basis behind any sentence is a combination of the Mens rea (Innocence of the mind) and the Actus rea (innocence of the action). A drunk driver naturally does not wish to cause harm, tey only cause harm due to their incompetence of drinking before driving. Therefore they tend to have the sentence of manslaughter, a lesser sentence in comparison to murder in the first degree since it requires a person to have the intent and mental capacity to do so. The law is fair to both the victim and the accused. That does not mean that the law should be more strict on drinkers and find a way to prevent them from making the mistake that seem to be happening daily.
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