Everyone has a choice
I was born in Powell River and raised there. I would like to commend constable Anthony Stewart [“BC recognizes mountie,” April 6] for his great job attempting to keep the streets of my hometown safe from impaired drivers. Two decades ago I was a victim of a serious drunk-driving accident that almost took my life; it was only a couple of kilometers from my home and changed my life and that of my family forever. We were robbed of the mother, wife and grandmother I could have been.
Impaired drivers have a ripple effect they never realize. I had to go though a year of physical and mental recovery. I will never be the same and the longterm effects of pain and diminished capacity will haunt me until I die.
As victims, we don't care if it’s a first offence or one of many times people get away with driving under the influence. Everyone has a choice to get in that car and drive with alcohol or drugs in their system. A car can be like a loaded gun; it’s how you choose to use it that effects others. We all have to live with our choices in life and driving impaired shouldn't be one of them.
Powell River is a small town that has its share of fatalities. Those victims all have families and friends that endure the effects of those deaths for a lifetime.
Donna Heck
West Kelowna, BC
Hazardous involvement
Since RoadSafetyBC became involved with senior patients’ medical histories [“Test accuracy raises senior-driving questions,” March 30], doctors have become hazardous to their patients. They forget who they are treating, the patient or RoadSafetyBC.
Never have doctors raised the issue that what they are doing is causing depression to patients. They only give negative assessments that have nothing to do with driving ability. Consequently, the patient has no choice but to stop seeing their doctor.
That is not what a doctor is supposed to do.
Richard Dignard
Alberni Street
