Lage en

1

ne

: Contributed by
"-’Cst. Ewen Harvie

| People who drink. and. drive’
- are costing us all too much, It

costs a lot of money to fix cars,
pay funeral and medical ex-
penses and to compensate peo-

ple for being out of work or hav- -

ing to live with handicaps and
emotional scars that never heal.
Police are just as concerned as
the: public about. the needless

deaths, injuries and suffering —

victims have to endure because
of an unnecessary drinking and
driving incident.

To this end we would like to
take a look at the concerns
under Social Host Liability that
we have. I think it may come as
a surprise to many that a Social
Host .can now be held legally
responsible and liable for in-
juries caused to others by ac-
tivities of his or her intoxicated
guests. An article in the Cana-

‘dian Airlines travel magazine re-

iterated this concern, so we have

‘brought this concern to light.

The usual scenario would be the
guest who overimbibes at a din-
ner party or a social gathering
held at the host’s residence and

. who injures other people in the

course of driving home. In such
circumstances, the social host
becomes liable, along with the
intoxicated guest, to pay com-
pensation for the personal injury
or property damage which
results.

To date, there have been no
cases in Canadian courts. which
have dealt with the issue of

Social Host liability, but ‘with -

‘our civil courts heading in the
direction of the American deci-
sions, the time for Social Host
liability cases is not far off. To
‘date in Canada, however, such
liability has been imposed only

upon pubs, hotels and other
similar licenced drinking

establishments, but has not been -

extended to the Social Host con-
text.
An example of what may be to

“come in Canada is a quotation

‘of a. New. Jersey case which
established, Social Host liability.

“in-that state in 1984. The case
was Kelly v. Gwinnell, In this
“ease the policy arguments | for

and against such liability were
well done. Speaking for the ma-

/ jority who were in favor of
-Social-Host liability, Mr. Justice

-Wilentz ruled the following:
The argument is made that the

syle: imposing liability on

licencees is justified because
' -tigencees, unlike social hosts,
derive a profit from serving li-
quor, We reject this analysis of

“the liability’s foundation and
emphasize that the liability pro-
‘ceeds from the duty of care that
-accompanies control of the li-

quor supply.

Whatever the
motive behind making alcohol

available to those who will

subsequently drive, the provider

‘has. a duty to the public not to
_ create foreseeable and unreason-
able risks by this activity.

We therefore hold that a host

--who. serves liquor to an adult
‘social guest, knowing both that
‘the guest is intoxicated and will
thereafter be operating a motor
‘vehicle, is liable for injuries in-
fiicted on a third ‘party as a
: result ofth the negligent operation

“fora actions

y be liable
of drunks

of a motor vehicle by the adult
guest when such negligence is

‘caused by intoxication, We im-

pose this duty on the host of the
third party because we believe
that the policy. considerations
served by. this imposition far
outweigh those asserted in op-

_ position, While we recognize the

concern that our ruling will in-
terfere with accepted standards
of social behavior; will intrude
on and somewhat diminish the
enjoyment, relaxation and com-
eraderie that accompany social
gatherings at which alcohol is
served, and that such gatherings
and social relationships are not
simply tangential benefits of a
civilized society but are regarded
by many as important, we
believe that the added assurance
that. just compensation to the
victims of drunken driving as
well as the added deterrent effect
of the rule on such driving out-
weigh the importance of those
other values. Indeed, we believe
that given society's extreme con-

cern about drunken driving, any §
change in social behavior
‘resulting from the rule will be-

regarded ultimately as a neutral
ai very least and not as a change
Jor the worst; but that in any
event if there be a loss, it is well
worth the gain... Given our firm
belief that insurance ts available,
that compensation of innocent
victims is desirable, and.that the

added deterrence against

drunken driving is salutary, we
do not perceive the potential
revision of cocktail. party
customs as constituting a suffi-
cient threat to social well-being
to warrant staying our hand.”’ .

There are atso_ several
arguments against allowing
Social Host liability and the feel-
ing was that there being so many
variables to being able to en-
force this type of responsibility
that each case will have to be de-
cided on its own individual
merits. However, we may see
within the very near future
house party hosts being held
financially liable for the damage
done by their guests in a drink-
ing driving situation..—

Here in Terrace, since the
beginning of December, 15
motorists ‘have been charged
with impaired driving or having
over 80 mgs of alcohol per 100
ml. of blood (or over .08). This
is one more than the number of
motorists charged over the same
time last year as police continue

to.step up road checks through- —
out the holiday season. Twenty- .

seven motorists have had their
drivers licences suspended for 24
hours, which is up from eight
over the same time last year.
Motorists are advised that road
checks are being set up.
Checks are also being made
on residential streets to check
for the drivers who feel that us-

ing ‘‘back roads” will mean that

they will avoid being checked. .

Whether the increase is due to
better detection on the part of
the police with the assistance of

the roadside breath testing .
device (A.L.E.R.T.) or not, we —

want to put across the message
that everyone has a choice and a
‘responsibility to plan ahead,
don’t drink and drive, gett home

. alive! ‘

“Pd rather be a skunk than drive with.a drunk.” These words of wisdom V were the theme of
last month’s ICBC Youth Conference in Terrace. Wishing you a very merry and safe
Christmas above, are Thornhill Junior Secondary CounterAttack students Angela Burton
and Nikki Schafhauser.

The key’ is planning. Ifyou before you start. For every-

know you're going to be one’s sake, make a sober
drinking, make suitable trans- _ decision...while you still can.
portation arrangements THINK BEFORE YOU DRINK.

CHRISTMAS COUNTERATTACK.

~ROADCHECKS: DECEMBER 6th- JANUARY Srd_

-.A program ofthe
. Government of |
ee British h Columbia

DRINKING DRIVING ©
“COUNTERATTACK

Not Niles

Spams ea eee

Doig cages Kn

eg wt 2

9 eat pe Be