Even though the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) states in an opinion that the imposition of new penalties for drivers whose blood alcohol level exceeds 0.05 could save up to nine lives annually, the Minister Geneviève Guilbault is staying the course: the limit imposed on Quebec will not be lowered.
After redacting an opinion it had issued in October 2023 on the imposition of a new alcohol driving limit of 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, the SAAQ finally made public on Wednesday the full version of the document, of which Duty had revealed extracts on Tuesday.
We learn that the Quebec state corporation was inspired by British Columbia to propose a new model last October, based on a “scientific consensus”, where a blood alcohol level of 0.05 and 0.08 would be punishable by fines of up to $600 and would result in the removal of four demerit points. This change, she points out, “would prevent 3 to 9 deaths and around 10 serious injuries annually”.
” We have […] taken note of the scientific literature which presents the gains obtained following the imposition of administrative sanctions,” wrote the president and CEO of the SAAQ, Éric Ducharme, in a letter addressed to the chief coroner of Quebec, Reno Bernier . “It appears undeniable that additional gains could be made here in terms of drunk driving. »
The SAAQ’s opinion, produced just a few weeks before the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, reopened the Road Safety Code by tabling a bill in the National Assembly, made very specific recommendations on lowering the rate alcohol driving limit in Quebec.
According to its model, a driver caught with an alcohol level between 0.05 and 0.08 would be fined “$300 to $600”, in addition to receiving a penalty to their demerit points and a three-day license suspension. These sanctions would be repeated until the fourth offense, which would result in a fine of $1,500 to $3,000 “upon conviction of the criminal.”
In his letter to the chief coroner, the CEO of the SAAQ assures that the state corporation will continue to “make representations to decision-makers on this subject.” However, in February of this year, the Coalition Avenir Québec government definitively refused to lower the current rate limit.
After spending Tuesday clarifying that she had not seen it, Minister Guilbault was finally able to consult the notice in question before appearing before the media on Wednesday morning. And she will not change her mind, she confirmed at the press scrum.
“The decision has been made. The bill I had on road safety was adopted. We already have a very strict regime regarding impaired driving,” underlined Mr.me Guilbault in the press scrum.
“So, we do not intend to move forward with 0.05,” she ruled, highlighting in passing a new article in the Duty in which it is revealed that Éduc’alcool, the non-profit organization responsible for informing Quebecers about alcohol consumption, is also opposed to a reduction in the maximum alcohol level.
In Canada, only Quebec and the Yukon still use the limit rate of 0.08 provided for in the Criminal Code.
Further details will follow.