Saskatchewan has been, and still is, victim to a preventable epidemic. Impaired driving has spread from teenagers to adults, small towns to big cities, and it must be stopped.

Like a disease, the plague of drunk driving has overwhelmed the province of Saskatchewan for decades. According to Statistics Canada, in 2013 Saskatchewan rated as the worst province in terms of drunk driving rates, but this issue is national.

Despite constant negative advertising about the dangers of drinking and driving — as well as ever harshening sentences and fines — more than one third of vehicular collisions in Canada are attributed to alcohol. This is the worst of any first-world country.

Saskatchewan has one of the leading drunk driving rates in the world.

Yukon and the Northwest territories lead the country in drunk drivers, but among the provinces, Saskatchewan sets itself apart by doubling the national average in impaired driving incidents.

Similar to any outbreak, this problem affects everyone. This was made clearer than ever following the death of an entire family, including two young children, at the hands of a drunk driver in January 2016 north of Saskatoon.

Those from teenagers to university students to adults are all guilty of this behaviour and prevention is the responsibility of all. The wave of getting behind the wheel while intoxicated extends beyond age, race, profession and anything else.

Perhaps the most notorious case in recent years came when MLA Don McMorris was convicted of a DUI in September 2016. McMorris was driving a government vehicle, drunk, midday, on a highway that was under construction.

When the minister responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance, the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority as well as former Minister of Highways and Infrastructure, gets caught driving impaired, it becomes apparent that Saskatchewan has a problem.

After this hypocrisy-riddled situation, McMorris promptly resigned. The question then becomes this: what can Saskatchewan do about it?

While harsh sentences often do not correlate at all with reduced crime rates, the opposite seems to be true about impaired driving.

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MLA Danielle Chartier called for harsher sentences against drunk driving in 2013 but argues the provincial government dismissed these calls to action. British Columbia took action to create more severe criminal penalties for drunk drivers two years ago, and has seen a 50 per cent drop in alcohol related driving fatalities. Meanwhile, the former Saskatchewan Minister of Highways has a DUI.

This is not just the responsibility of the government. People need to be accountable for their own actions. Look out for friends and look out for people who are close to them. Everyone, at the very least, knows or has heard of someone who has gotten behind the wheel while inebriated. The trick is to take control of the situation and prevent said individual from making a grave mistake.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving suggests that individuals faced with a friend who wants to take the wheel while drunk should become non-confrontational. Rather, suggest alternative ways to get around, look out for each person’s safety, use a group mentality, take the keys and garner the leverage or — as a last resort — call law enforcement. It is better to get the authorities involved than to have another life taken by preventable actions.

However, there is only so much one can do to stop drunk driving. It is up to the government to create policy that will appropriately crack down on impaired drivers and to create a campaign that will allow drivers to see what they could be responsible for.

While policy and messaging are important, the greatest thing the government could do to prevent impaired driving is to be different than McMorris. Be a role model, be smart and make changes within yourself to change impaired driving rates across Saskatchewan.

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Travis Hebert

Photo: Katherine Federoff