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PAGE tr - WATERLOO CHRONCLE. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, ‘986 bet-0nd Class Mail Kettistratioet Number 5540 Can any impaired driving law be too tough? Kitchener MPP David Cooke thinks so, and has written provincial transportation minister Ed Fulton to tell him just that. For his part, Cooke has raised several interesting arguments concerning the harsh new laws, especially those involving first-time offend- ers. But at the same time, Cooke appears to overlook the main point of the. new legislation--that the threat of strict penalty for drinking and driving is one of the most effective deterrents we have at our disposal. Cooke claims the strict new law, which see first-time offenders lose their licence for one year, offers no "impetus" for offenders to plead guilty and will clog court time as accused attempt to get off on technicali- ties. Citing the state of Arizona as a precedent, where in 1982 the number of drinking-driving court cases quintupled after harsher laws were introduced, Cooke predicts chaos in our court system and also slams the fact that the new laws make no allowances for special consideration. " _ Among those considerations, Cooke lists those whose family livelihood depends on a person's ability to drive on the job, those with impeccable driving records who are caught after a "momentary impulse”caused them to take an extra drink, and those who are victims of a lack of differentiation between impaired drivers and those with higher-than-allowed blood alcohol levels. We agree only with his last point, and only then because with all the variables involved in determining a person's ability to drive at an arbitrarily-set legal limit, there should be distinctions between those who have merely exceeded the limit and those who are judged to have been impaired behind the wheel. Cooke's answer to these problems lies with the issuing of provisional licences after a six-month period, clearly delineated so that the sole purpose of the licence is to allow the convicted individual to drive only to the point where it is necessary to maintain his liveli- hood. In earlier times, we might have sympathised with such a request, but no more, and we are greatly distressed to hear that Fulton's ministry is giving careful consideration to Co9lte's complaints. At this point, any concessions made are bound to have an irreversible effect on a trend that was far too long in coming in the first place, and one which must be pursued with vigor, not with halfway measures. No, our drinking-driving laws must not only be iron-fisted, they must be viewed as iron-fisted, especially by those who otherwise would risk challehg- ing them. Our brutal statistics of highway carnage due to drinking drivers tell the story-we simply can no longer turn our heads and pretend the problem doesn't exist. It does, and will continue to do so until we as a society refuse to allow it. The battle is being won, with mounted media campaigns and public awareness programs, but still, there is no more sobering answer than the threat of stiff penalties. Human nature or not we have a difficult time rallying any sympathy for someone who knowingly would risk his family'is livelihood for a "momentary impulse", especially one that could leave him or worse, innocent victims dead as a result. And as for provisional licences, while it might encourage more accused to plead guilty, won't it likewise encourage more drinkers to risk that extra one for the road? We think to. This is not the 1960s, or 1970s, or even the early 1980s when drinking and driving was viewed as a macho combination. It is 1986 and thankfully our attitudes are changing to the point where there is no room for sympathy for those who choose to abuse their driving privileges. And if that means clogged courtrooms, tough bananas. Better that than clogged hospital emergency rooms and other indighities the practice of drinking and driving has caused us far too long. The only way published every WeQnesday by Fairway Press, a davnsnon of Kttcttener-Waterloo Record Ltd ' owns: a 225 Fairway Rd. S ' Kitchener, Ont address correspondence to Waterloo afflu- _ " Er!) SI F. , Waterloo. UM Ned 11.7. telephone ttttti 2830 Waleuoo Cnmmcle omce tS located m the Haney. Whale Law omce 1ioitt'trtg treat entrance opper 8oor; Parkmq at the rear ot the building Open Monday to Fnaay 9 00 a m to 5 oo p m Publisher: Paul Winkler Manager: Bill Karges Editor: Rick Campbell established 1854 One of the deepest satisfactions in writing a column of this kind is the knowledge that you are getting into print the angers and frustrations of a lot of other people, who have no recourse for their regentments, and consequently take them out on the old man or the old lady. How do you know this? Well, because people write you letters cheering you on to further attacks, and other people come up to you, perfect strangers, shake hands warmly, and say, "By the Holy Ole Jumpin! Bill, you really hit the nail on the head." This can be a little disconcerting, as you are never quite sure which nail they are referring to. If the congratulator is a woman, I smile weakly and change the subject. Because sure as guns, though she thought you were one of nature's noblemen for your assault on male chauvinism last week. she'll turn on you like a snake when she reads t6morrow's paper, with the column exposing female chauvin- ism. Speaking recently to a class of potential writers in a creative writing course, I tried to pass along the personal satisfaction one gets from this type of personal journalism. I emphasized the "personal" satisfaction, be- cause there's a lot more of that involved than there is of the other kind, financial satisfaction. Colum- nists and freelance writers have no union working for them, nor any professional association. as have doctors, lawyers, teachers. 7 They have only their own talent and wit and perseverance with which to penetrate the thick heads and thicker skins of editors and publishers. But it's a great feeling when you vent your wrath, say, about the rapaciousness of mechanics, and you are button-holed six times in the next three days by people with horror stories about mechanics you can scarcely believe. Trouble is, they all want you to write another column about mechanics, and put some real meat into it. This means. in effect, that they would happily stand in the wings and applaud when you were sued for libel. Some readers would like you to be constantly attacking whatever it is that" they don't like. Capitalist friends are aghast when you refuse to launch an assault on capital gains taxes. Welfarist friends think you are a traitor and a fink when you won't attack the government for not providing color TV for everyone on the take. lam not by nature an attacker, and I think there is nothing more boring than a writer of any kind who tries to make a career of being a "hard-hit- ting" journalist. 6nd: in a while my gently bubbling nature boils over. Throwing caution and syntax to the winds, I ---llt is written $1M: unpaired drivers who may get away from RIDE are the ones we'll likely be pulling from the tc . , Sgt. Steve Calma on _ holiday drinking and driving statistics. - SEE PAGE 3. Pleasures Bill Smiley Syndicated columnist let my spleen have a field day and try to throw some sand in the grease with which many aspects of society are trying to give us a snow job. And that's one of the finest paragraphs I've ever written, if mixed metaphors are your bag. Fair game for the hard-hitter are: garage mechanics, plumbers, postal workers, supermar- kets, civil servants, and politicians. Most of them can't hit back, and everybody hates them, except garage mechanics and their wives, plumbers and their wives, etc. etc. Smaller fry are doctors, lawyers, teachers, used car salesmen. They all squeal like dying rabbits when attacked, but nobody pays much attention to them except doctors and their wives, etc. etc. There are a few areas that even the hardest-hit- ters avoid. When have you, lately, read a savage attack on greedy farmers, callous nurses, or unloving mothers? And yet, there are lots of them around. One of these days, perhaps, one of these hard-hitting writers, will muster enough guts, after about five brandies, to launch an all-out attack on the audacity of women, thinking they're as good as men. Boy, that fellow will learn what real hard-hitting is all about. Personally, I can't stay mad at anybody long enough to be a voice of the people, or a public watch-dog, or any of those obnoxious creatures who try to tell other people how they should feel. Otherwise, I get a great deal more joy from touching the individual life than inflaming the masses. When I get a letter from an old lady in hospital, crippled with arthritis, who has managed to get a chuckle out of my collum, it makes me feel The only constant in my rage is the blatant manipulation of self-seeking politicians who will twist and warp and wriggle and squirm and bribe for self-perpetuation in office. Recently. I got a letter from a young Scot who has immigrated to Canada. He says: “I have learned more about Canada and Canadians through reading your column that all the accumulated wisdom from the Canadian newsmagazines, novels and TV programs I have absorbed." Now there is a man with his head screwed on right. If I, as a newcomer, tried to get my impressions of this country from newsmagazines L',',", TV programs, I'd catch the first boat or plane ome. So, I guess I'll just try to go on talking to people, getting sore, having some fun, looking for sympa- thy in the war between the sexes. That's what life is all about, not plumbers and politicians and other horrors of that ilk. .