Ottawa ponders random roadside breathalyzers
Posted Mar 12, 2010 03:36:02 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The federal government is looking for input from Canadians over the idea of allowing random breathalyzer tests.
MADD Canada president Margaret Miller knows where she stands on it.
“When I heard that there was a possibility of getting this close, I was actually brought to tears,” says Miller.
She says random breathalyzer tests in other countries work.
“In New South Wales in Australia, many years ago, there was right away a 36 per cent decrease in death and injuries,” says Miller.
However, Halifax lawyer and civil libertarian Walter Thompson disagrees with random breathalyzers.
“It’s the state overreaching once more,” he says.
Thompson says impaired driving used to be a terrible problem, but a cultural revolution against it has changed things.
Miller shoots back saying 70,000 Canadians die or are injured each year because of impaired driving. Adding that random breathalyzers would save thousands of lives.
