Quebec has targeted the fight against impaired driving as a “priority issue”. However, an investigation by Duty shows that the number of roadside checks is down by almost 30% since 2018 in all police forces, despite repeated recommendations from coroners to intensify them.
In Canada, the Criminal Code allows drivers to drive with a maximum of 80 mg of alcohol in their blood. All provinces and territories, with the exception of Quebec and the Yukon, also impose administrative penalties from 50 mg of alcohol in the blood.
Data from the Department of Public Safety shows that the number of traffic stops carried out for driving while impaired by alcohol and drugs fell by almost 30% between 2018 and 2023. While in 2018, 1,069 stops were carried out by the various municipal police forces in Quebec, only 782 took place in 2023, according to data obtained by Duty. On the side of the Sûreté du Québec, a drop is also observed, but cannot be quantified due to pressure tactics from the police in 2022 and 2023. From 2018 to 2022, 19,462 checks were carried out on average and, in 2023 , the SQ says it made 6,789 in six months, from July to December.
Although there is a Concerted National Operation which takes place mainly in December, during which all police services in Quebec intensify their control and awareness-raising interventions, we have noted that few police forces organize this type inspections outside the holiday period.
The Quebec Public Security Cabinet did not wish to comment on the drop in the number of road checks in municipal police forces. He also considers that the incomplete data from the SQ does not make it possible to establish a trend.
The limits of the “balloon”
It was 10:30 p.m. on a Thursday evening in September when a team of 17 police officers from the Longueuil Agglomeration Police Service (SPAL) set up a road check at the exit of the Victoria Bridge in Saint-Lambert. Nearly 250 vehicles will be stopped that night. This will be an opportunity for the agents to have motorists blow into the approved detection device, the famous “balloon”, a dozen drivers having had a drink.
“You are not over the limit, but I can clearly see that your driving ability is impaired. Your eyes are glassy and, when I asked you for your license, you gave me your health insurance card,” explains a patrol officer to a man who has just “blown” 40 mg of alcohol into his blood. “I’m often wrong,” replies the driver, visibly in a hurry to leave. The police officer tries to make the motorist aware of the risk he runs even if he does not break the law. “Maybe, in 10 minutes, you will be at 70 [milligrammes]. Depending on the person, we can be affected differently. Are you okay to drive? Because we can call you a taxi,” he told her. “I’m correct,” says the driver before getting back into his vehicle.
Impaired driving is harder to prove than murder
Even if the law sets the limit at 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, in fact, in Quebec, only people above 100 mg are considered to be intoxicated. During a traffic stop, a person who blows with a result of less than 99 mg of alcohol in the blood can get back behind the wheel. The detection device only indicates “fail” when the driver’s blood alcohol level is above 100 mg.
“The caution warning zone, between 50 mg and 99 mg, is not sufficient for legal police intervention. There is no power to guard the driver or maintain his vehicle,” explains road safety assessor Sylvain Forgues, from SPAL.
Why this margin of 20 mg? The detection device is used outdoors, in a sub-optimal environment. It is therefore only an indicator that allows the police to bring a driver exceeding 99 mg to the police station. The official test, the breathalyzer, is done at the station and is the official tool for measuring blood alcohol levels and for laying criminal charges. With this margin, the police also avoid a possible challenge in court.
“Impaired driving is harder to prove than murder,” maintains Sylvain Forgues. According to the police officer, the investigation will be much more scrutinized since most drivers do not have a criminal record and want to avoid a criminal record.
A little later in the evening, a pair of patrol officers announced to a driver that she had failed the alcohol test. “It can’t happen to me, not to me,” said the woman, leaning on her car, sobbing. luxury. After being placed under arrest, she was taken to the station so that her blood alcohol level was measured with a breathalyzer. The driver “blows” 102 mg of alcohol in her blood.
The fear of being arrested, of having demerit points, of a fine, constitutes a deterrent
The deterrent element, effective in preventing
According to a non-exhaustive in-house analysis of coroner files carried out by Duty, at least 247 Quebecers lost their lives due to drunk driving between 2020 and 2023. The number of deceased drivers with a blood alcohol level of less than 100 mg represents a quarter of deaths, according to the analysis of the Duty.
The data provided by SPAL shows that 25% of people who blow into the approved detection device are in the warning zone, i.e. between 50 and 100 mg of alcohol in the blood.
Punitive measures are an essential element in the fight against impaired driving according to all the experts who Duty spoke. “The fear of being arrested, of having demerit points, a fine, constitutes a dissuasive element,” estimates Étienne Blais, co-author of a scientific opinion from the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec, which recommended the implementation of administrative measures from a blood alcohol level of 0.05. “Even if it is only an administrative measure, studies in other provinces and countries that have adopted it demonstrate that it is a successful mechanism,” he adds.
Coroner Donald Nicole never misses an opportunity to recommend intensified roadside checks when he writes a report where the death is linked to drunk driving. In January 2023, he recommended in particular to the Ministry of Public Security “to encourage all police forces in Quebec to use compulsory alcohol screening in a more systematic manner and to increase the number of police checks in line with the capacities of driving impaired by alcohol or drugs throughout the year. At least four of his colleagues have come to the same conclusion in an investigation since 2020.
Checks are a priority to save lives on Quebec roads, considers Donald Nicole. The idea of imposing administrative sanctions from an alcohol level of 0.05 has its merits, he believes, but “it is the fear of being caught which will deter, so, few No matter what number we put, if there are no additional means of control, it will remain a number.”
Since 2018, the police have also had the power to administer an alcohol test to any driver they suspect of being impaired.
“If, every time they stop someone who hasn’t made a mandatory stop, they can check their blood alcohol level, well, that creates fear. But, currently, this is not happening, says Donald Nicole. Same thing for drunk driving operations: if there were every week, not just at night during the holidays, but also the rest of the year, at the end of the afternoon, that would lead to certain fears. People would be afraid of being checked, and there would be a portion of consumers who would probably be affected by these measures. »