Lowering the alcohol limit to 0.05 | The multiple trips back and forth from Quebec

The idea of ​​lowering the blood alcohol limit while driving to 0.05 was revived in the National Assembly this week after the publication of a shocking opinion from the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), according to which this could save up to nine lives per year. Proposed to Quebec by several governments since 2001, this measure has however never been adopted, which places the province in a class of its own.

The genesis of the debate

On May 29, 2001, Keven Lavallée, 6 years old, was having fun riding his bike in the driveway of his parents’ home in Massueville, in Montérégie, when he was struck to death by an impaired motorist.

The drama leaves a lasting impression. Two days later, the Minister of Transport at the time, the PQ Guy Chevrette, committed to quickly tabling a bill to crack down more severely on drunk driving.

Among the suggested measures, lowering the blood alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05, in order to imitate France and Australia which already impose this limit.

“It’s alarming, what we’re experiencing, and I hope that society will understand the message,” says the minister, heated by the liberal opposition at the Salon bleu.

The elephant will, however, give birth to a mouse. Ultimately, the 0.05 is not one of the measures retained, due to lack of a consensus in Quebec to act, judges the minister.

Liberal attempts

On two other occasions, in 2007 and 2010, the Charest government failed to pass a 24-hour suspension of the driving licenses of motorists whose blood alcohol level was between 0.05 and 0.08.

Each time, he backs down in the face of the discontent of the restaurateurs and the loud cries of the opposition.

In 2007, faced with Minister Julie Boulet’s project, which included lowering the authorized blood alcohol limit while driving, Adequist MP Pierre Gingras proposed a simple measure: police surveillance.

“We are not enforcing current laws, and the minister is coming to us with new laws, which are difficult to apply and penalize honest citizens,” he declares.

“Unanimous” literature

There is no shortage of opinions in support of lowering the blood alcohol limit while driving to 0.05.

In 2009, the Quebec Road Safety Table, chaired by Jean-Marie De Koninck, recommended this measure given the “undeniable” impact it would have on the road toll.

Judging the literature to be “unanimous” to this effect, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec also pleaded in its favor in 2010.

The most recent review carried out by the SAAQ, a document which had not been made public until this week, indicates that “the introduction of sanctions for blood alcohol levels of [0,05] or more would prevent 3 to 9 deaths and approximately 10 serious injuries annually due to drunk driving in Quebec. Without mentioning the drop in compensation costs from 2.2 to 3 million per year for public coffers¹.

Recommended… even in the government machine

The idea even came from inside the government machine.

In 2018, in a letter sent to her counterpart at Public Safety, the Deputy Minister of Justice, France Lynch, praised the British Columbia model.

For a first offense, the Western Province imposes fines totaling $600 and suspends the licenses of motorists caught with a blood alcohol level between 0.05 and 0.08 for three days.

France Lynch reveals that “preliminary work” has been undertaken on a “possible implementation” of a similar regime.

His suggestion, however, was bluntly rejected by the Minister of Transport, the liberal André Fortin, who is working on a bill revising the Road Safety Code.

An episode that her successor, Geneviève Guilbault, did not fail to recall when she was questioned by the opposition at the Salon rouge in recent days.

Latest chapter

Which brings us to the most recent chapter of this series.

In October 2023, coroner Yvon Garneau recommends that the SAAQ analyze the feasibility of lowering the alcohol limit.

This recommendation, revealed following a request for access to information from Liberal MP Monsef Derraji, is heavily redacted.

The subject caused a stir in the National Assembly to the point that Minister Geneviève Guilbault ended up, on Wednesday, asking the SAAQ to make the document public. However, she is not convinced by what is there.

“Yes, I read it. […] We already have a very strict regime. We do not intend to move forward with 0.05,” says the minister.

An inflexible position that is difficult to explain by the relatives of victims of drunk driving, who came to parliament to hear the minister in person.

1. Read “Alcohol limit at 0.05: a measure that could save lives, according to the SAAQ”