Vancouver police say that every 37th vehicle on the road is driven by someone who is impaired, and they have had enough.
Sgt. Marc Alexander is warning impaired drivers that the laws are toughening up starting Monday and police will be cracking down on drunk drivers.
"If you didn't care, you'd better start caring. And if you were one of those people that chose to drink and drive, you'd better reconsider," he said.
Drivers caught within the warn zone -- defined at having a blood alcohol level of between 0.05 and 0.08 -- will be banned from driving for three days and fined $250. The fine, combined with the towing and storage fees, means that offending drivers can expect pay about $600.
If they get caught again, the penalties get worse. West Vancouver Chief Const. Peter Lepine thinks the new laws will really drive home the message.
"I think the message to drivers on the road will obviously be, ‘Tonight is it going to be me? Tonight, are they going to catch me?'" he said.
The new rules will also help police take drunks off the road faster than before. Lepine says this will allow police officers to catch even more impaired drivers.
For Laurel Middelaer, these new regulations are particularly meaningful. Her four-year-old daughter Alexa was killed by a drunk driver while the girl and her aunt were feeding horses on the side of the road.
"A child, my child, lay dead in a horse paddock. Her aunt lay critically injured beside her," she said.
The driver of the car, 46-year-old Carol Ann Berner of Delta, was convicted of dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm on July 27.
Middelaer said that most people don't want to hurt or kill anyone intentionally but all it takes is one bad move.
"I'm sure if she could live that day over and over again, she would never do what she did."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's St. John Alexander
