SGI toughens laws against drunk driving

SGI is amending Saskatchewan’s Traffic Safety Act to establish an immediate 24-hour licence suspension for drivers who fail a standard field sobriety test (SFST) due to alcohol or drug impairment.Also, the province’s act will be amended in 2006 so that drivers who refuse an SFST will also face immediate 24-hour suspension of their driver’s licence. Currently, drivers can refuse the request for an SFST without any consequences.Another significant amendment is the imposition of a 15-day driver’s licence suspension after a second .04 blood alcohol content (BAC) violation within a five-year period. As of now, a driver with three .04 BAC violations in five years is subject to an additional 90-day licence suspension.The amendments are expected to come into force when they are proclaimed in 2006. “Saskatchewan has some of the strongest drinking and driving legislation in the country,” Minister Responsible for SGI Maynard Sonntag says in release posted on SGI’s Web site. “The SFST will be the newest tool to help reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by impaired driving.”The SFST is considered one of the best methods of identifying impaired drivers and it will help law enforcement to take more drinking drivers off the road. Alcohol is the leading contributing factor in traffic fatalities in this province.”The SFST, used at roadside to help officers determine whether a person’s ability to drive is impaired, includes the walk and turn test, one-leg stand test and a check for involuntary movement of the eyes.The National Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving (STRID 2010) recommends the SFST as a tool to be used in addition to breathalyzers to assist police in identifying and successfully removing impaired drivers from the road.The Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police (SACP) supports the changes.