Immediate Roadside Prohibition or Criminally Charged

Fact
In British Columbia, a new driver with an L designation is required to have a licensed driver as a supervisor sitting in the passenger seat. If that supervisor is impaired sitting in the passenger seat when the vehicle is pulled over for any reason, he or she will receive the same penalties as an impaired driver would. This frequently occurs.

Myth
A licensed driver who is impaired in the passenger seat, can not be charged with impaired driving?

Counselling

If you have received penalties for impaired driving (alcohol or drugs) and are feeling depressed, confused, embarrassed, angry and would like to process this event, you can book an appointment for one or two sessions in order to better cope with what lays ahead as the various penalties unfold.

If you want to prevent or better understand the penalties and the impact they would have on your lifestyle, family and wallet, you can also book one or two sessions in order to ensure you are never in the position where you could be given impaired driving penalties.

Breathalyzers that measure the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) in the driver’s breath are now common place. What’s new is the development of a marijuana breathalyzer which is now in the testing phase.

Workshop

Westside Counselling also facilitates a workshop focused on the: New Realities of Impaired Driving: Protecting You and Your Loved Ones. It is suitable for schools, parents, youth or community groups as well as for employee lunch and learn programs. Drivers and their family members generally feel great embarrassment, guilt and shame once they have been caught for impaired driving. A better model would be to shift all those negative feelings to the act of impaired driving. Most impaired drivers have no idea what getting caught for this will mean to their wallets or their lifestyles.

Drawing on my work with impaired drivers (adults, youth, women and men) the answers to these questions will be included in the presentation:

• Why people continue to drink and drive yet tell others not to do it
• What the financial, social and employment consequences getting caught has today
• Why a “couple” or “a few” drinks will result in the biggest penalties
• What you need to know about BAC levels (blood alcohol content)
• How could technology help prevent impaired driving?
• Learning what is a myth and waht is a fact in relation to impaired driving