VICTORIA (NEWS1130) - The BC government says drunk driving deaths are down by 40 % since it brought in tougher legislation last year. But some skeptics are still questioning whether the laws are working.
There's no question police are enforcing the law. More than 20,000 cars have been impounded and more than 23,000 immediate roadside driving bans were handed out in the first year. Then, there's drunk driving deaths; there were 68 of them between October 2010 and October 2011, well below the previous 5-year average of 113.
But do the laws make the roads any safer? News1130 legal analyst Michael Shapray isn't convinced.
"It may be there's more detection on the road and more police officers setting up road checks, but a detection is really what's happening. The stats don't show, as far as I can tell, any change in the amount of drinking and driving."
Shapray says the numbers don't tell the whole story. "I'm not quite sure how 23,366 immediate roadside prohibitions show that people are drinking and driving any less."
Today is the National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims.