P.E.I. considering automatic roadside penalties for impaired driving

P.E.I.'s attorney general says the province is considering automatic roadside penalties for people who are caught driving impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Right now, impaired drivers are charged under the Criminal Code of Canada and have their cases work through the courts — with the opportunity to get a lawyer, elect which court will hear their case, enter a plea and proceed to trial if they so wish. This can take months.

However, in the legislature on Wednesday, backbench PC MLA Robin Croucher called for harsher and more immediate penalties, handled with immediate administrative actions rather than criminal charges. 

In British Columbia, for example, police were given the power to issue 90-day suspensions for drivers who blow over 0.08 on a Breathalyzer, as well as impose penalties and fees that add up to $3,750. A recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling upheld their right to do so, except when drivers refused to take a breath test.  

"Impaired driving in our province continues to be an extreme issue. This cultural epidemic continues to have severe and life-threatening consequences for family, friends, and loved ones and continues to absolutely devastate our communities," Croucher told the House during question period Wednesday.

"It is a cultural epidemic," Attorney General Bloyce Thompson, who is also the justice and public safety minister, said in his response. "It's an epidemic that we have to do something about."

After question period, Thompson told CBC News the province has been approached by Mothers Against Drug Driving (MADD) about the idea of automatic roadside penalties and plans to explore the policy proposal in the new year.

"It's a different way of looking at it," Thompson said. "It's definitely an approach we are seriously looking at."

A recent data analysis undertaken by the P.E.I. RCMP showed that impairment — by drugs, alcohol or both — was confirmed or suspected in 34 per cent of fatal crashes over a recent five-year period. 

There is one silver lining: The data also suggested there's been a decrease in impaired-related fatal collisions since 2020.

P.E.I. RCMP stepped up enforcement this year after the province paid to add two new officers to the force's traffic unit, which Thompson said has a provincial mandate to go after impaired drivers. 

That is reflected in the courts.

On Monday, Judge Nancy Orr told a Charlottetown provincial courtroom that impaired driving charges consistently make up half to two-thirds of her docket.

Thompson said that is the intention: to have more drivers face charges if they drive while impaired.