Drinking and driving | “The worst thing is to kill someone or lose a loved one”

“During the holidays, there is always someone missing from the table. We experience happy moments, I am a grandmother today, but our joy is never complete. It is always tinged with sadness. »

The one whose absence is so cruelly felt is Thomas, the son of Odette Lachance, “my eternal teenager who will always be 17,” she notes in an interview.

In March 2018, he was fatally struck by a 29-year-old man who was driving after having had 8 to 10 beers in a bar.

In court, he apologized to Thomas’ family and assured that he would have preferred to die than to have the teenager’s death on his conscience.

After describing him as a person from a good family, who has a job and is an asset to society, the judge sentenced him to three years in prison and five years without a license.

Odette Lachance does not hold a grudge against this young man. “I saw clearly that he was repentant. In fact, even if he hadn’t been in prison, it wouldn’t have bothered me,” she says, knowing that his real sentence is to be condemned to have this death on his conscience at all times. Never.

Very quickly, M^me Lachance began giving lectures to adults in the criminal justice system – including repeat drink-driving offenders – and going to schools to raise awareness among young people of the importance of responsible driving. “We talk about alcohol, but also about not using your cell phone while driving. »

“I sometimes hear children tell me that they are afraid to get in the car with their parents. Some also told me that, from the back seat, they tell their father or mother not to answer the phone,” she says.

The idea, she explains, is not to demonize alcohol, she insists, but to think before a party about how we will get home.

She still notes today the great reluctance of people to intervene in front of those they know to be intoxicated or to denounce “a neighbor who takes his car even though his license has been withdrawn”.

“We often imagine that the worst thing is losing your license. But that’s not the worst part. The worst thing is killing someone or losing a loved one. We never recover from that,” recalls M.^me Luck.

Alcohol involved in 95 deaths and 225 serious accidents per year

Each year on average, between 2012 and 2021, drunk driving was a factor in 26% of deaths (95) and 15% (225) of serious injuries, according to the Society’s accident victim data. of Quebec automobile insurance (SAAQ).

“Driving while impaired by alcohol remains one of the main causes of accidents in Quebec,” observes Sophie Roy, public relations officer for the SAAQ.

She emphasizes that “85% of people arrested while intoxicated are at a first [infraction] “.

In 2021, 8,291 people had their license suspended immediately following an alcohol-related offense. In 2012, 17,054 people suffered the same fate.

Operation Red Nose, “a brilliant model”

Operation Red Nose, the model of which was adopted in six provinces, in Switzerland, but also in France and Portugal, undoubtedly contributed to the reduction in road deaths during the Holidays.

Since its beginnings in 1984, Red Nose has provided 2.4 million rides across the country.

“It’s a brilliant model, who did harm reduction before its time, without moral judgment regarding alcohol,” underlines Louise Nadeau, professor emeritus in the psychology department at the University of Montreal, who served for 27 years on the board of directors of Éduc’alcool.

On the other hand, M^me Nadeau is dubious about the figures indicating that few impaired drivers are repeat offenders. In his opinion, it is mainly because they were never intercepted in a police roadblock and they were lucky not to have an accident.

But for those who are drunk while driving and who cause injury or death, she recalls that “the Penal Code is not at all lenient”.

Marie Claude Ouimet, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke, notes that in studies, “fatal collision rates start to increase from 0.02”.

Serious accidents don’t only happen to those who spent the evening in bars, she recalls, “but also to those who start drinking in the afternoon while cooking and who go to the grocery store when they realize they are missing cumin.”