Mathis Filion had his life ahead of him. He was studying at Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe and wanted to become a physical education teacher. He loved sports. He had been playing hockey since he was 4 years old. He trained five days a week at the gym and was a talented student.
“Mathis was so loved. […] He was the kind of boy that all mothers want to have, ”says his mother, Catherine Corriveau, unable to hold back her tears. “He was a bon vivant who was going after his dreams,” adds his father, Sébastien Filion.
On March 11, Mathis lost his life after a drunk driver driving in the opposite direction on Highway 20 crashed head-on into the vehicle in which the young man was traveling with four friends. They were all coming back from training. Only Mathis died in the collision.
Still overwhelmed with grief, Mathis’ parents have one wish: that their son will not be forgotten. And that people learn lessons: “so that it doesn’t happen again”. According to Ms. Corriveau, “the drunk driving file is far from settled in Quebec”.
Antoine Bittar and Élizabeth Rivera also lost their daughter Jessica in an accident involving a drunk driver in 2017. Since then, they have been campaigning to improve the death toll from drunk driving in Quebec, which is responsible for around 50 deaths each year and more than 220 injured. One of their main demands: the imposition of administrative penalties for all drivers with a blood alcohol level of 0.05 or more.
Quebec is the only Canadian province not to impose such sanctions. However, introducing this measure could improve the road safety record, show the situation of Canadian provinces and the scientific literature.
“On administrative penalties at 0.05 in Quebec, it’s simple: we’re idiots,” says Marco Harrison, director of road safety and at the CAA-Quebec Foundation. “The 0.08 no longer holds water,” adds lawyer Marianne Dessureault, head of legal affairs at the Association pour la santé publique du Québec.
In Canada, it is a crime to drive with a level exceeding 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood (0.08). The federal government has the power to amend the Criminal Code and impose this threshold. In contrast, provinces can amend their respective highway safety codes to impose administrative penalties below the 0.08 threshold. In recent years, all Canadian provinces have adopted this approach, except Quebec. Internationally, Quebec is also one of the states where the rate of alcohol allowed while driving is the highest.
Administrative penalties include drivers whose blood alcohol level is within the “warning range”, i.e. between 0.05 and 0.08. The goal is not to criminalize more people driving under the influence of alcohol, but to “play on perceptions and norms,” says Dessureault. She cites as an example the prohibition for young drivers to drive after drinking in Quebec. “We see that there is less and less social pressure on young people who decide not to drink,” she says.
“Numerous studies have shown that when you lower the alcohol limit, you influence all drivers,” adds Étienne Blais, professor of criminology at the University of Montreal.
Agent in evaluation and recognition of drugs at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), Catherine Feltrin indicates that many drivers in Quebec have the false impression that “before 0.08, you are OK to drive”. However, several studies, as well as an unscientific experiment from La Presse (see other text), tend to show that alcohol disrupts driving, even below the threshold of 0.08.
• multiplied by 1.7 in those with a blood alcohol level between 0.02 and 0.05
• multiplied by 4 in those with a blood alcohol level between 0.05 and 0.08
• multiplied by 23.9 in those with a blood alcohol level between 0.08 and 1.50
Source : INSPQ, 2017
In British Columbia, administrative penalties have been imposed since September 2010 for drivers with a blood alcohol level of 0.05 or more. This decision was taken after the tragic death of young Alexa Middelaer in the spring of 2008. The 4-year-old girl was on the side of a road and was feeding her favorite horse when she was fatally hit by a driver drunk.
In Ontario, administrative sanctions have been imposed since May 2009. The sanctions increase in the event of a repeat offense and range from temporary suspension of the license to the mandatory installation of a breathalyzer in the vehicle. So far, the measures are bearing fruit, according to Simi Ikotun, spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. “Warning range penalties have reduced […] the monthly number of alcohol-related crash injuries and fatalities by 17 percent,” he says.
The idea of introducing administrative sanctions in Quebec has been debated many times in recent years, the last time in 2017, but the measure was never adopted. The Highway Safety Code was reviewed in 2022, but the imposition of penalties from a blood alcohol level of 0.05 has not been studied.
In a brief filed in 2017, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec noted, however, that “gains in the fight against drunk driving seem to have stagnated in Quebec for several years”. The organization wrote that Quebec should “reduce the alcohol limit for driving from 80 mg to 50 mg/100 ml” and pointed out that other states “have a better road record than Quebec.”
Mr. Harrison believes that if administrative sanctions have not yet been applied in Quebec, it is in particular for a question of “social acceptability”.
At the Union des tenanciers de bars du Québec (UTBQ), we are still opposed to the imposition of sanctions from 0.05, says the president of the organization, Peter Sergakis. “We claim that serious accidents are mostly caused by people with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 and above,” he said.
In a brief filed in 2010 and still relevant, according to Mr. Sergakis, the UTBQ estimated that the imposition of administrative penalties from 0.05 would “have a harmful impact for the owners of bars in Quebec”, which would cause ” a slew of job losses,” and that the state would be “choosing the wrong target by going after moderate drinking drivers.”
Director General of Éduc’alcool, an organization independent of the government and funded by the alcohol industry, Geneviève Desautels is “not against the 0.05”, but she also pleads for “more social support measures” and for “more police roadblocks”.
For Mr. Blais, “scientifically, there is not much argument against sanctions at 0.05”. “It’s more ideological or anecdotal arguments. Regional victim services manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Marie-Claude Morin says the 0.05 “is not a panacea” and won’t solve the case overnight. ‘Drunk Driving. “But in the provinces where these sanctions are imposed, it works and it has an impact on the roads. There is only in Quebec where it does not succeed. »
Asked why Quebec is not moving forward with administrative penalties at 0.05, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Justice directed questions from La Presse to the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ ). “This issue has been discussed for a long time among authorities interested in road safety. The Company is continuing its analysis in connection with such a measure because of its potentially positive impact on road safety,” said SAAQ spokesperson Geneviève Côté.
A third of road deaths, as well as more than 220 injuries per year, are attributable to alcohol in Quebec. “In allowances and social costs, it costs 400 million per year in Quebec. Not to mention all those shattered human lives,” says Ms. Dessureault. “We often talk about gun violence and worry about deaths. But in fact, drunk driving kills many more people, ”concludes Mr. Blais. “If it were up to me, the rate would be 0%,” adds Sébastien Filion.
With both hands well placed on the wheel, our colleague Éliane Gosselin turns on the driving simulator and virtually drives over a bridge. She must change lanes at regular intervals.
After a few minutes, by moving her vehicle into the left lane, the driver deviates slightly from her path and hits the guardrail of the bridge. ” Whoops ! I have seen nothing ! “, she says.
At this time, Eliane has a blood alcohol level of approximately 0.07. The young woman, a journalist with La Presse, submitted herself for us to a driving test under the supervision of CAA-Quebec and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
After testing the simulator without alcohol in the blood, Eliane drank vodkas and orange juice at regular intervals. She tested the simulator at 0.03, with no noticeable impact on her driving. At 0.05, Daniel Fortier, trainer at CAA-Quebec, noted slight effects. Like a bit higher driving speed. Slightly less control of the steering wheel and more jerky driving.
When her alcohol level reached approximately 0.07, Éliane submitted to a skills test with the SPVM drug evaluation and recognition officer Catherine Feltrin. Éliane feels confident doing the famous walk in a straight line. Aside from a slight tremor when asked to hold her balance, a non-expert eye may believe she has all her abilities. Nothing could be further from the truth, said Agent Feltrin. “You did everything very slowly. If you were driving, your reaction time would be slower. If a child came out of a driveway, would you have time to react? she asks.
Before sitting down in the simulator, Eliane expects the impact of her 0.07 alcohol level on her driving to be minimal. But as soon as the machine started, Mr. Fortier quickly noticed that Eliane’s driving was much less stable than at the start. She tacks. Especially when she looks into her blind spots.
According to various studies, the effects observed on the conduct of the young woman are not surprising. In a report published in 2017, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec noted that “drivers perform less well in the various tasks required for driving at blood alcohol levels as low as 50 mg/100 ml”. Drivers have “more difficulty staying in the center of the lane, maintaining a safe distance between vehicles and spotting stimuli in the road environment.”
Road Safety Director at the CAA-Quebec Foundation, Marco Harrisson explains that the vast majority of people fined for impaired driving are not repeat offenders. In Ontario, 87% of drivers involved in crashes who are caught while impaired by alcohol are on their first offence. “And for them, the deterrent aspect of administrative penalties at 0.05 is great,” he says.
According to agent Catherine Feltrin, administrative sanctions could be one more string in the bow of the police to act with drunk drivers. Currently, a driver with a blood alcohol level of less than 0.08 can be arrested for impaired driving. But the police must collect evidence. It can also take months before a sanction is applied after legal proceedings. Administrative penalties, meanwhile, apply immediately, Harrison notes.
Lawyer Roxane Hamelin, who defends clients in impaired driving cases, says she doubts the deterrent aspect of administrative penalties at 0.05. She also believes that these sanctions which go “against the rights of an individual” could open the door to legal challenges. Only tests carried out at police stations on breathalyzers can be used as evidence in court, while administrative penalties would be based on the results of alcohol detection devices obtained during tests carried out at the roadside by police officers .
Marie-Claude Morin, of the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving, notes that the administrative penalties at 0.05 have been challenged when they have been imposed in other provinces. “But they stayed. It should be remembered that these sanctions do not give a criminal record. These are ‘annoying’ measures for the driver, which lead him to be more careful,” she says.
