MidlandToday welcomes letters to the editor. They can be submitted via the site or emailed to [email protected]. Please include your name, address, and phone number for verification. The following letter is from Doug Abernethy, who founded Orillia Against Drunk Driving following the death of his brother.
When I worked on the alcohol ignition interlock for many years, in the late 1990s, I was constantly advocating for it and trying to persuade the Ontario government and pleading with the Ontario government on the issue for years.
Politicians get paid and they get expense accounts.
I worked on the alcohol ignition interlock to get it used in Ontario but, of course, I did not get paid. It cost me money and my own time to do that. Even to this day I am still working on the issue over 27 years later.
Now the interlock in Ontario is used on offenders after they have been caught drinking alcohol and driving.
Of course it is a very important issue, I felt, personally to try and prevent people from getting killed and injured by drunk drivers who, to this day, persist on our roads by drinking alcohol and then driving.
Many people still have not got it through their heads not to drink and drive, and it seems it still has not sunk into many people's heads that driving after drinking is criminal as they continue to engage in this criminal activity. Nothing is stopping people from doing so.
This is the reason to have alcohol-detection technology in all vehicles, which measures the blood-alcohol concentration from the driver’s seat through normal breathing, and if the driver’s blood-alcohol concentration is over the limit, their vehicle won’t start, which prevents them from driving.
It needs to be installed in all newly built vehicles as standard safety equipment, and mandatory in all vehicles as standard safety equipment, just like seatbelts and airbags. It is my sincere hope that the federal government will mandate alcohol-detection technology at least in all newly built vehicles in the very near future.
Doug Abernethy
Gravenhurst
