The tragic deaths of three beautiful children and their grandfather in a motor vehicle collision in Vaughan on Sunday not only puts blood on the hands of an alleged impaired driver, it also reopens a societal wound regarding the senseless and selfish practice of drinking and driving. Will this preventable loss of innocent lives ever go away?
Federal and provincial governments have increased sanctions on impaired driving over the years. Tougher driver's licence suspensions, more lengthy periods of incarceration upon conviction and vehicle impoundments are the expected outcomes of all drivers who choose to drink and drive, in addition to the inherent personal and public safety risks.
Police services and highway safety advocates receive tremendous support from media outlets in their efforts to communicate their preventive messages to the public. There cannot possibly be a driver or passenger anywhere that doesn't fully know that impaired driving is illegal and high-risk behaviour. Despite all of this and more, parents are burying children and other children are growing up without parents because of the actions of grown adults that know better. Families and communities are forever destroyed as a result.
What are the collateral costs to society in addition to the human toll? Insurance rates; health care costs; and the rising costs of policing, fire and EMS providers are hugely impacted for taxpayers. Highways are closed for hours on end, disrupting trade and commerce routes - in the "just-in-time" delivery world in which we now live.
We also can't forget that the lives of emergency services personnel are endangered and forever altered after attending and pulling children and adults out of smoldering wreckage because a drive refused to obey the law.
The law-abiding public can do their part by challenging friends and family who insist on drinking and driving. That may not be easy at times, but it is always the right thing to do. They can also report suspected impaired drivers to their local police service as soon as possible.
My message to those that drink and drive? Enough is enough. Wake up people. It's bad enough that you don't care about your lives and the potential harm you will cause your own families if you drive while intoxicated, but there's much more at stake here than your existence.
Don't drink and drive.
Chris Lewis served as Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police from 2010 until he retired in 2014. He can be seen regularly on CTV and CP24 giving his opinion as a public safety analyst.
