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Drastic measures needed to stamp out drunk driving in York Region

YorkRegion.com
Sept. 28, 2016
By Tim Kelly

Easily the saddest, most grim story of the past 12 months in York Region was the drunk-driving crash in Vaughan just over 365 days ago that took the life of three children and their grandfather.

The deaths of Daniel, 9, Harrison, 5, and two-year-old Milly Neville-Lake along with their grandfather Gary Neville 65, paired with the serious injuries suffered by grandmother Neriza Neville and great-grandmother Josefina Frias shocked and saddened a community, a province and a nation.

And they all came at the hands of a man who had absolutely no business and no excuse for driving that day. He registered at or just over two-and-a-half times the legal alcohol limit for driving. And he chose, with devastating consequences for all concerned to drive.

We all watched for months as the judicial process played out and finally Marco Muzzo of King Township was sentenced to 10 years in jail of which he’ll likely serve less than half. He and his family are also being sued by the Neville-Lake family for more than $20 million in a wrongful death civil lawsuit that is still before the courts.

What is concerning is that in the year since this tragedy drunk driving in York Region appears to be on the rise. York Regional Police are catching even more people choosing to drink and drive than ever, even after all the publicity about the Neville-Lake tragedy and the fallout from the Muzzo trial.

So what can be done about it?

Perhaps it’s time to institute mandatory breathalyzer machines in all new vehicles.

It would mean that every time any driver starts his or her car he or she has to breathe into a breathalyzer machine before the car starts. If you breathe over a preset alcohol limit, your car does not start. The machines would come as standard equipment on all models.

Some people would certainly complain about the imposition and inconvenience such machines would cause, but we would all get used to using them in short order. Just as we got used to using seatbelts. And like seatbelts, the breathalyzer machines would save lives – lots of them. Like the Neville-Lake children and their grandfather.

The other thing, and it is something that would take longer but it will eventually come, maybe within a decade, is the self-driving car. Once such technology is perfected and becomes perfectly safe, it might remove such problems as drunk and distracted driving from the road. At least let’s hope so.

Until then, short of breathalyzer machines and self-driving cars, we’ll have to make do with more education programs, stiffer penalties and the hope that people will come to their senses and stop driving drunk.