IMPAIRED DRIVING

A Police Perspective

Last Friday, March 2, the Bordertown Chapter of MADD, sponsored a
multi-media video presentation at the Springhill High School and at
Amherst Regional High School. The show was entitled Mind Control and
it dealt with the often traumatic results of Impaired Driving. Driving
not only while impaired by alcohol but by drugs; specifically marijuana.

Through powerful interviews given by victims who had lost children,
siblings and friends, the students were able to hear first hand how
these losses devastated their lives. There was the testimony of a
young lady named Shannon who is now confined to a wheelchair after she
was involved in a crash. The sad part about Shannon's story was that
she had arranged for a designated driver but drank so much that she
did not realize her driver began to drink as well.

Ian Baker, the MADD Field Rep who brought in the presentation, later
told the audience that the driver actually told Shannon that her
injuries were her fault because she should have known better.

They had been close friends.

Also, for the first time in one of these presentations, the students
heard from a young man who was convicted of Impaired Driving. He was
doing a friend a favour, or so he thought, by driving him home when he
should have stayed in bed after a night of drinking. The friend ended
up being seriously injured when the car was driven into a building. A
police station in Ontario in fact.

These are the people who go on living and for the rest of their lives
will think about what they have lost. My Mom is 82; when she was 16
she lost her 18-year-old brother as the result of an impaired driver.
I know she still misses him.

An important segment of the presentation dealt with driving after
smoking up or while high. Lets just call it what is, impaired. It
tells the story of a horrific crash near Perth, Ontario, about four
years ago. Five teenagers died and 11 people were injured; nine of
those were teens as well. The night was clear and dry; a perfect night
as one O.P.P. officer said. There was no explanation for what happened
except that those who were involved, as well as several independent
witnesses, could say that the teens, including the drivers, had been
smoking up.

The Criminal Code refers to a person being impaired by alcohol or a
drug and, ladies and gentlemen; marijuana is a drug. You should not
drive if you have been using drugs.

As a member of the RCMP I am a representative on the local MADD
chapter. MADD is an organization unto itself and does not speak for
the RCMP or any other policing agency but it is not difficult to
support their message. It is an important message and until you have
looked down on the lifeless body of a young person on the side of the
road or in a crumpled vehicle, or helped load one into an ambulance
you may not understand. I hope you never have to.

The Criminal Code refers to a person being *impaired by alcohol or a
drug* and, ladies and gentlemen; marijuana is a drug. You should not
drive if you have been using drugs. And let*s not kid ourselves; it*s
not just teenagers who should listen to this message. It is more
tragic when we lose them but we all know there are those who are old
enough to know better who are at fault as well.

I also hope that the close to 800 Amherst, Springhill and area youth
who watched last week's presentation never find themselves in that
position either.

I really do.

Note: Submitted by Const. P.W. (Paul) Calder, Community Policing
Co-ordinator, Cumberland District RCMP, Amherst, N.S.