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A little more than a year ago, the Estevan Police Service held a summit on impaired driving.

It was an opportunity for a broad cross-section of interested parties to gather and share their thoughts on the issue, and how the number of impaired drivers can be reduced.

Some of the ideas were unique, a few were unrealistic, and some of them were practical. Some of those ideas, such as releasing the names of those charged with impaired driving to the media, have been enacted.

We’ve also seen the establishment of a Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter in Estevan, and that group has been visible in the community since its inception.

But the quantifiable measure of the group’s success was going to be whether there would be a reduction in impaired driving in the community. And while there are a variety of factors at play, we have seen that reduction.

Impaired driving was down in Estevan last year, with 143 charges laid, compared with 161 charges a year earlier. So that’s a good indicator.

Granted, the number of arrests for impaired driving was lower in 2017 than it was during the final years of the economic boom. And in addition to the EPS summit, there have been recent laws that have come into effect that have increased the punishments for impaired driving, in an effort to curb the practice.

We hope that the summit, the recommendations that came out of it, and the continued effort to curb impaired driving have all led to a change in people’s behaviours.

Obviously, we hope that publishing the names of people charged with impaired driving has contributed to this. And it is worth noting that police agencies in some much larger markets have now adopted the practice, although it’s more likely to be effective in a smaller market such as Estevan.

We still see those troubling indicators, such as when two people were arrested for impaired driving on one night shift earlier this month. Of particular concern is that one of the motorists had a toddler in their vehicle.

There were concerns about an increase in the number of people being charged for impaired driving by drug once cannabis was legalized in Canada, but so far, that hasn’t materialized. In fact, nobody was charged for impairment by drug in Estevan last month, which we’ll take as a good sign. 

Impaired driving is a very selfish act. It can reflect a lot of attitudes, but one of them is that the motorist believes their perceived right to get behind the wheel, regardless of their condition or frame of mind, trumps the safety of every other motorist or pedestrian on the road at that time.

It puts people’s lives at risk and it ruins families.

Yes, people will use the “I didn’t think I was impaired’ argument when trying to explain their actions, and that might hold some water if that person’s alcohol content was .09 or .10. But if they blow more than double the legal limit, then they have no credibility.

We’ll never completely eradicate impaired driving. At some point, somebody is going to be stupid enough to climb behind the wheel after having too many drinks.

You can create all the deterrents that you want. You can create as tough of a law as you want. The world will never be completely rid of impaired driving.

But you can look for ways to make it as tough as possible for those who choose to drive while impaired.