However this is only from motor vehicle accidents and does not include casualties from impaired boating, aircraft, train or industrial vehicle accidents. Their estimate considering all of these other factors rises to 1350 to 1600 deaths per year involving impaired operation of a vehicle in Canada. Using this figure, it can be said that almost four people per day are involved in a accident involving an impaired operator. Along the same topic are the amount of injuries that drunk drivers are responsible for. MADD3 states that 73,120 people are injured in motor vehicle accidents caused by a drunk driver or roughly two hundred per day. All of these figures point to one solution, something needs to be done to make sure that these numbers drop drastically. .
One of the newest ways the police can control a convicted impaired driver is the Ignition Interlock system. This system is connected to the engine of the car and will not allow the car to start until the driver provides a breath sample of less then .02 blood alcohol concentration ( twenty milligrams of alcohol per on hundred millilitres of blood ). Under the current penalties first time offenders will have the Ignition Interlock system for a minimum of one year. A second time offender will have the device for a minimum of three years. However why not make these devices standard on all vehicles? This would mean people who were over the preset limit of blood alcohol concentration would not be able to start there vehicle. Currently the Ignition Interlock system requires drivers to test there breath at random preset times while the engine is running and if the driver does not give a sample or the sample is over the preset limit the system records the event and warning signs will go off such as lights flashing, horn honking until the cars turned off4. These features are helpful for a convicted person since they have lost trust from the law however, if the system was to be made standard the constant testing would be trying for a regular driver.
