An Obscured But Present Danger

Here behind the lines, we are pretty good at addressing clear and present dangers.  Governments, even, can act decisively to address them.  No one can deny that drunk drivers are a clear danger, and they are, sad to say, certainly present.  So the Government of British Columbia enacted a set of very punitive laws to curb drinking and driving.  The outcome of a roadside screening, administered by a policeman, led to immediate, significant, and costly consequences to the impaired driver, even at a level of impairment below the criminal threshold of 0.08.  Life got very complicated at 0.05, and things happened automatically and administratively, based on the meter reading.  There was, however, a problem.  The provisions were unconstitutional.  And it was hardly a technicality, either.  There was no judicial review component to the process at all. Everything was bureaucratic and administrative.  Well intentioned the measures might have been, but nothing close to impartial judicial due process was a part of the mix.  It didn’t, couldn’t, and shouldn’t have survived review.  It was important to do something, certainly, but equally important to do it right.

There are few things indeed that are more undesirable, more frightening than a drunk driver loose on the roads.  There can be no doubt that endeavours to keep them off the road in the first place, and get them off the road if they venture on it, are to be encouraged.  Still, care and attention is needed. Among the few things that are more undesirable and frightening are the notion that the end justifies the means, and the prospect of a police state.  The reaction to the judicial ruling indicates that each of these two things has a fair following here behind the lines.

Much has been made of the reaction of those who have been harmed by drunk drivers.  People who have lost loved ones to the predations of these felons have been at the forefront of movement to eradicate the menace, and understandably so.  Yet to hear some of them voice their views is to be left in a state similar to one who has been advised by a physician to stop nosebleeds by putting tourniquets around the patients’ necks.  The law, and only parts of it, we should note, that relate to the provision of due process, was struck down because it was unconstitutional.  This is not a mere “technicality.” It is a fundamental and vital protection against the proposition that the end justifies the means.  It is wrong to drink and drive.  It is morally poisonous to assert that any means at all, irrespective of constitutional protections, is allowed in response to this wrong.  We have been down the road in history where, once the goal is accepted as desirable, the means of achieving it are to be accepted as licit if they prove to be effective.  The symbol of efforts to eradicate drinking and driving cannot be, and cannot even be consistent with the use of, a hooked cross.  The suggestions by the prominent anti-drinking driving group that the application of constitutional principles of due process to the work that needs doing is inappropriate is disturbing, frightening, and diminishes their credibility.  Rather than making them dedicated and determined, the statements indicate that their misfortune has made them bitter and damaged.  And, if they have their way, perhaps even dangerous.  The appeal to emotions that is being put forward is obscuring the dangers they would let loose to achieve their ends. It would be wise to think carefully before tying a red ribbon on one’s car radio antenna this year.  One may end up supporting more than one bargained for.

The attitude doesn’t only reside with the victims of the felons.  It also is found among those who exercise the ultimate authority in a free society – the police, who have the power to take away that freedom.  This morning on a radio interview, an RCMP Inspector was asked about the laws that had been curtailed, and the process that led to the curtailment.  Did he defend the constitution?  (Rhetorical question: I already said it was a Mountie.)  No, he cited the statistics on the reduction in the amont of drunk driving damage since the law’s proclamation.  That, on the showing of his utterance, is all that needs to be looked at.  The blood flow is reduced.  Pull the tourniquet tighter.  When those who wield the ultimate authority in a free society are only results oriented, and will not even speak to the role of constitution protections, we can be forgiven if we become a bit worried.  The new RCMP Commissioner has stated he has work to do vis-à-vis the culture of his organization.  Yes, indeed.

We are left to wonder how it became so easy for expediency to be exalted above all other principles in the conduct of our societal and legal affairs.  Is there, perhaps, a vain and stupid notion about that we can let the end justify the means in only selected areas, and be safe and assured that it will not spread more widely?  That view bespeaks not only moral bankruptcy, but also of an appalling ignorance of history.  And it bespeaks contempt for the citizens of this country.  It is not impossible to address this serious issue in a manner that is consistent with due process, and that is effective.  It will take more hard work and effort that those who make the laws have put forward to this point, and more than those who enforce them seem to be willing to make. (I once heard a good working definition of a police state: It is a state where the job of the police is easy.)  Turning loose enforcement authorities with instruments meant for screening, not enforcement; giving them draconian and arbitrary (given the instruments used) power, bolstered by administrative formations, but bereft of due process and judicial oversight only can work if two wrongs make a right.  And they never do.

Drunk driving is an important issue, and it must be addressed.  It must be addressed with due regard for the fact that expediency is not a synonym for effectiveness.  Here behind the lines, we have to be careful about expedient solutions to pressing problems.  Let expediency have its way, and how long will it be before we will see the mitigation of the drunk driving problem through methods that passed only the expediency test being cited as justification for promoting euthanasia as an expedient means of reducing health care costs?  It is horrible that drunk drivers do such damage to the people whose lives they touch.  It will be more horrible if they succeed in seducing us into foregoing  important principles in response to their reprehensible conduct.  And they seem to be coming close to doing so.

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Tags: costly consequences, drunk drivers