I have been digging through statistics – yet again- and the numbers just do not add up for me. I may not be an accountant but I do have enough book keeping experience to know that if a business showed numbers the way the government did for Drunk Driving statistics, the auditors would be all over them.
It has been long established that 40% of all motor vehicle collisions involve alcohol. At the best of times, Ontario just couldn’t break through the 35% mark. I just found the most recent Ministry of Transportation report from 2010 (file://localhost/Users/juliewynen/Desktop/www.mto.gov.on.ca.webloc) and it has the rate of of conviction for motor vehicle collisions at 1.4% of all collisions. That means that the other 38.4% of motor vehicle collisions involving alcohol were not prosecuted as a criminal act in the courts.
Another way of looking at this is that imagine that you owe $4000.00 in income tax for the year but only paid $140.00. Do you think that the government would say that was good math? How is it that we don’t hold our own government that we voted into office- that is supposed to be working for us to the same standard?
If you drink and drive and hit something or someone that is a criminal act under the criminal code.
But you’re forgetting that important people with power commit this crime. Sigh. It’s not taken seriously as a criminal offense. Not at all.
Sadly Jody, I have not forgotten. I am still trying to find out how many of our “illustrious leaders (MP’s, MPP’s) have been arrested for Impaired Driving. I saw the stat once and it’s about twice the national average but I can’t find it again to quote it. When it comes to some of the politicians, lawyers, and judges making and controlling the laws of our country, I often refer to the fact that we have allowed “the lunatics to run the asylum”. I guess if I manage to do one thing while I’m still able, it’s to get Canadians to reclaim their language and to start referring to Impaired Driving as a “violent crime”. I guess maybe that should be a future blog for those people that want to help but don’t have anyone to send shoes for, YET. (at the rate of increase, we will all have someone to send shoes for within the next 5 years.) I’ll make a cheat sheet of terms for everyone so that we are all on the same page.
I fully support you. It is a violent crime. I like that!