It’s hard to find fault with federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould’s announcement that she is considering lowering the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers to .05 per cent from .08.

After all, impaired driving is the leading criminal cause of death and injury in Canada, snuffing out the lives of between 1,250 and 1,500 Canadians every year and injuring another 64,000.

Indeed, according to a 2016 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Canada has the disturbing distinction of ranking No. 1 among wealthy countries for road deaths related to impaired driving. It found alcohol impairment in 34 per cent of Canada’s motor fatalities. Compare that to Israel’s rate, which was just 3.2 per cent.

Further, Wilson-Raybould notes that the current rules were established after research indicated the risk of being involved in a car crash was twice as likely when a driver has 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in his or her system.

“More recent research indicates that this data underestimated the fatal crash risk,” she said this week. “In fact, the risk is almost double at 50mg, almost triple at 80mg, and rises exponentially above that level.”

In fact, not only is Wilson-Raybould on the right track, she is simply catching up to what all the provinces, except for Quebec, have long been doing: penalizing drivers with blood-alcohol levels above .05 per cent.

The difference is that penalties under the Criminal Code, which kick in at .08 per cent, are much more stringent than those the provinces can legally impose. For example, criminal penalties can include jail time and a criminal record. That’s a much stronger deterrent than the administrative penalties provinces can impose.

Not that they are without consequence. Currently in Ontario, drivers with a blood-alcohol level of between .05 and .08 — what the province calls the “warn range” — face a three-day roadside licence suspension, without appeal, and a $198 fine. And that’s just for the first offence.

But it could be much worse. Under current federal criminal penalties, drivers with a .08 blood-alcohol level face a fine of $1,000, a mandatory 30 days imprisonment for a second offence, and 120 days imprisonment for a third violation.

And that’s just for getting caught. The current maximum penalty for dangerous driving causing death is 14 years.

Even if Wilson-Raybould doesn’t reduce the limit for impaired driving, things are going to get a lot worse for drivers who drink under new legislation introduced by the government in April.

First, Bill C-46 would increase the maximum penalties so that, for example, dangerous driving causing death could result in life imprisonment.

Second, it would allow police officers to demand that drivers submit to a breathalyzer test even if they don’t suspect they are under the influence. Currently cops can screen drivers for alcohol and drug consumption only if they have “reasonable grounds,” something studies indicate officers have trouble assessing. As a result, research indicates many Canadians continue to drink and drive believing there’s little chance they’ll be caught.

All these proposed changes are steps in the right direction. Especially when Wilson-Raybould points out that when Ireland reduced its legal limit for driving to .05 and combined it with obligatory testing for alcohol, it “produced a 50-per-cent reduction in deadly road accidents and a reduction of about 65 per cent in the number of (criminal) charges.”

That means people didn’t just avoid getting caught. They stopped drinking and driving. That, after all, is the goal.

So what’s the argument against these new measures? Restaurants Canada says they will be devastating to the hospitality industry. “People will be too afraid to eat out and have a glass of wine with dinner, because of the potential of a criminal record even if they don’t present a safety risk,” says Joyce Reynolds, executive vice-president of government affairs.

The trouble is, according to the research, they are a danger.

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Nor is it necessarily true that the hospitality industry will be hit hard. “In Germany, they haven’t stopped their beer festivals,” notes Theresa-Anne Kramer of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “And in Ireland, I never heard that they had to close a pub — and both those countries have the 50 milligram limit.”

Wilson-Raybould has asked her provincial counterparts to weigh in on her proposal. It would be hypocritical of all but Quebec to oppose it, considering their own .05 targets.

In fact, it’s time the federal government followed the provinces. Driving with a .05 blood-alcohol level should be a criminal offence.

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