This must include a significant number of frequent drinkers and individuals who have significant tolerance to the effects of alcohol, such that they would show few or no signs of intoxication. In low-traffic or low-demand situations, their poor driving may not be as identifiable to traffic and other police officers, but they are still impaired in their ability to operate a motor vehicle. This is the rationale for the RIDE program and approved screening devices used at the roadside.
On the list of references accompanying my brief, reference number five is the abstract of a study performed by two RCMP officers in 1977, which looked at the advantages of the RIDE program. I'll just pick out three of the cases from that study, in which police officers could not detect the intoxication of individuals who had substantial blood alcohol concentrations. These are the comments from police officers: One individual with a blood alcohol concentration of 200 was not obviously impaired. Another at 290 had no strong visible signs of impairment according to the officer who was investigating that individual. A third, who had a blood alcohol concentration of 160, smelled of liquor but did not look or act impaired. Those are the views of the officers at the roadside at the time.
The police need a better tool to identify these drivers before they enter high-traffic or high-demand situations, such as an emergency situation. Randomized breath testing would complement RIDE programs, and increase the possibility of catching these problem drinking drivers, and put added pressure on the majority of the driving public to act responsibly.
Next I'd like to address the per se limits, and the topic of reducing the per se limit to 50. There is no doubt that there is good toxicological evidence for impairment in individuals' abilities to operate a motor vehicle at blood alcohol concentrations between 50 and 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. What occurs is that as one drinks, one's blood alcohol concentration increases and the degree of impairment increases in a graded fashion.
What we would like to do, though, is to address the fact that although the limit is currently set at 80, the reality is that individuals are not charged until their blood alcohol concentrations exceed 100 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. Furthermore, due to the safeguards and the instruments that are used to determine blood alcohol concentrations, and the calibration of those instruments to ensure that no one is falsely charged due to falsely high results, this actually translates into no charges being laid until their blood alcohol concentration reaches a minimum of 110. Therefore, we think that through some changes in legislation, that level could be brought down to an actual level where criminal charges would apply at the realistic level of 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.
Three suggestions that would assist that would be, first, to include 80 in the legislation. Currently paragraph 253(b) states that someone is in violation when their blood alcohol concentration exceeds 80 milligrams, so 80 is not included. Due to certain good practices, that means that anyone whose blood alcohol concentration is between 80 and 89 would not be considered to exceed 80. Including 80 would eliminate that, and that would be an initial reduction in the limit at which individuals would be charged.
Something that has been used in the U.S. and elsewhere is to include a third category or a third offence, which is that individuals be charged when their breath alcohol concentration exceeds 80 milligrams of alcohol in 210 litres of breath. This is the exact equivalent of 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. This is what breath-testing instruments actually calculate, and then it is transcribed into a blood alcohol concentration. This would eliminate a lot of the defences around variability in the blood-breath ratio, that although the instrument read an individual's blood alcohol concentration as greater than 80, the person might have been below 80 at the time due to physiological properties.
A third one would be to include wording that would direct the courts to consider the actual readings of breath-testing instruments. Breath-testing instruments today are set to read low so that there are no falsely high breath readings. If the wording were changed to include the actual results, rather than any variability around them, the inclusion of these three changes would bring the limit where people are actually charged from 100 down to 80, and the realistic levels would be from 110 down to at least 89 milligrams per hundred. It would not unfairly prejudice those individuals who are around 80, and would still be in the interests of public safety, because someone whose blood alcohol concentration is 78 is still just as much a risk to the public as someone whose blood alcohol concentration is 81. With the safeguards that are enacted in this country with the breath-testing instruments, it is our belief that individuals who have breath readings of 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood and above would not be unfairly prejudiced by being included in criminal charges.
We also agree with the CCMTA and the others here that the combination of provincial statutes being applied at blood alcohol concentrations between, essentially, zero, or certainly between 50 and 80 for most adults, and even lower levels for youth, combined with criminal prosecutions above 80 is defensible toxicologically because it increases the penalty with increasing degree of impairment from increasing blood alcohol concentrations.
We would also ask you to consider more strongly imposing even greater sanctions when blood alcohol concentrations go beyond 160 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. There is absolutely good scientific evidence to show that individuals at 200 and 300 are a much greater risk, and they deserve much greater penalties than those who are at 80. Currently there is only a statement that the courts consider blood alcohol readings in excess of 160 as an aggravating factor. From personal observations in court, that doesn't lead to a whole lot of difference in the types of fines for individuals convicted at blood alcohol concentrations of 200 and those convicted with blood alcohol concentrations of 110, unless they are repeat offenders.
Finally, the alcohol test committee would invite the committee to consider adding, either as a separate category or an additional category, the point that the readings not only be considered at the time of driving but also be considered at the time of testing, so that readings at the time of testing be admissible in court. Currently individuals are able to use a defence of bolus drinking, or drinking large amounts of alcohol shortly before driving, as a valid defence against being prosecuted under paragraph 253(b), where their blood alcohol concentration was greater than 80 milligrams in 100 millilitres of blood at the time of driving.
The rationale for this apparent defence is that they were under 80 at the time, they had consumed a large amount of alcohol shortly before driving, and by the time they were tested they were over 80. But frankly, the consumption of large amounts of alcohol and a rapidly rising blood alcohol concentration is even more impairing than regular social drinking.
The use of this dangerous practice as a loophole to evade prosecution of over 80 seems irrational and contrary to public safety. Allowing a court to view the results at the time of testing would eliminate that. It's a procedure that has been called the “perilous rush home”--the consumption of large amounts of alcohol, and then the rush to get home before one's blood alcohol concentration exceeds 80. All those individuals are still impaired in their ability to operate motor vehicles, and this issue should be addressed.
I would like to end by stating that with consideration of any new technologies, the overriding concern of the alcohol test committee is that new equipment be properly tested and approved, and that it be used by properly trained officers in a program that is subject to strict quality assurance and quality control procedures to ensure that the evidence meets the acceptable standards of reliance for court purposes.
Thank you for your attention.