BC to get Mobile Alcohol Testing Unit to process drunk drivers

For information or to donate towards Alexa’s Bus, please visit alexasbus.com
or visit the BCAA Road Safety Foundation website

Allan Lamb: Alexa’s Bus is in memory of four-year old Alexa Middelaer, killed by a drunk driver several years ago, and this is a state-of-the-art mobile impaired driving enforcement and education tool. It’s very important that it be able to process impaired drivers road side, as if you would be processing them back at the office; Alexa’s Bus is going to be able to do that. It’s also very important to go into communities all over the province and be an education tool, so that we can speak to high school students. We can speak to those people that are going to be potential impaired drivers to say please don’t drive while you are impaired by either drugs or alcohol because you are going to be caught!

Laurel Middelaer: Some time ago the police had requested that we look at the Mobile Impaired Driving Unit down in Washington State and it was felt that this would be a really great tool for British Columbia, and we wanted to start with one in the Lower Mainland. What it is basically is a road side lab. So if you are doing an event, or if you are doing a counter-attack program, rather than taking individuals who blow a fail back to the station or the detachment, you can actually process them roadside. It’s so much more efficient and it’s using the officer’s time in a more prudent manner. So you can process an impaired driver in twenty minutes as opposed to six hours.

Australia has twenty, Washington State has one, Alberta has one, Toronto has one, and it’s time for our province to have one as well. The money is there. The procurement is in, and it should be on the road within a year.

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