MADD Canada says City of Vancouver must ‘mitigate harms’ if alcohol service hours extended

As Vancouver city council is looking at possibly extending alcohol service hours, not just in the downtown core, one anti-drunk driving advocacy group is sharing its concerns.

On Tuesday, municipal politicians will look at a staff report that suggests some businesses in the city should be able to serve liquor from 9 a.m. until 3 a.m.

Staff say this would give local bar, pub, club, and restaurant owners more opportunities to increase revenue.

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But those opportunities come with red flags, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

National president Tanya Hansen-Pratt tells 1130 NewsRadio that anytime availability of alcohol is expanded, “we know that’s going to cause harms in the community.”

“So, how do we mitigate the harm? That’s what we need to look at as we’re making this proposal,” she explained.

Hansen-Pratt says staff at businesses where alcohol is served need to be trained effectively to ensure there is no over-serving, overselling, and no underage customers.

“We also have to make sure that there are appropriate measures for people to get home safely. Things like [ensuring] taxis are available, that we have ride shares available in the community, and that people can make appropriate decisions for themselves. Maybe there’s a designated driver program available in drinking establishments, restaurants, that kind of thing, to encourage people to make good decisions,” she added.

The anti-drunk driving advocacy group is particularly concerned about reaching young men, aged 18 to 30, who it says are most at risk of impaired driving, and “we know that these young men are probably going to be the people that are taking advantage of these extended liquor hours,” Hansen-Pratt shared.

“People never think it’s going to happen to them, so it’s sometimes difficult to get that message across to the people who need to hear it most,” she explained.

“I think helping them understand that, yes, this can happen to you, and also taking advantage of the fact that we know that the way to change behaviour is making it obvious to people that they can be caught,” Hansen-Pratt said, adding that mandatory alcohol screening needs to be used by police more frequently.

“This has been law in Canada since 2018, and we didn’t see it much over the [COVID-19] pandemic, because police officers didn’t really want to be taking a lot of breath samples over the pandemic, understandably, but police can ask for a breath sample from a driver at any legal stop.

“If people see that the police are pulling people over and demanding a breath sample, that’s what’s going to change their behaviour. Because now they see, ‘Oh, this can happen to me. I can be caught if I make the wrong decisions out here,'” she explained.

Hansen-Pratt says MADD is not suggesting that people should stop drinking alcohol or using cannabis.

“But I am here to ask people that if they are going to consume alcohol or drugs, that they simply keep that activity separate from driving, whether that be a car or truck, a boat, ATV, any vehicle, that they simply keep that separate from their consumption,” she pressed.

Before heading out, Hansen-Pratt is urging people to plan ahead and organize a safe ride home.

“Make sure you don’t get into a vehicle with an impaired driver. And if you’re out there on the road and you see somebody you think is impaired, please safely call 911, or, even better, have your passenger make that call,” she said.

“That call can save a life.”