John Fisher was minutes from home after a 45-minute drive when he was struck by a suspected drunk driver on Nov. 26 on Highway 19 in Campbell River.
The 59-year-old, who was a dedicated Alcoholic Anonymous sponsor and worked with developmentally disabled adults, never made it to his Campbell River home to kiss his wife Jodi Cohen hello. Their 16-month-old grandson Logan Andrusyk won’t get to know the warm, funny, caring man who made friends everywhere he went.
“My life changed in an instant,” Cohen said. “We came out here for our dream retirement in Campbell River and now I’m a widow.”
Police are pursuing impaired driving charges against a 28-year-old Campbell River man.
It’s the most recent, but far from the only drinking and driving crash on Vancouver Island with devastating consequences.
Tonight, roadblocks will be set up on roads across the Island for the Light up the Highway enforcement campaign. About 60 Mounties and dozens of municipal officers will stop drivers to make sure they are not drunk.
Insp. Al Ramey, who heads the RCMP’s Island district traffic services, said the roadblocks are as much an effort to catch drunk drivers as they are an education tool to warn others that police are watching. “We want people to see us,” he said.
Ramey said he knows what it’s like for traffic officers to have to knock on someone’s door and tell a parent their child is dead because of a drunk driver.
“Things like that will never leave you,” Ramey said. “I see the risks and I see the outcomes and that’s tough.”
Jasmine Bussiere, 18, was seriously injured after her car was hit by a drunk driver on Oct. 11, as she drove her friends home from an all-ages concert about 11:45 p.m.
The culinary arts student at Vancouver Island University was the designated driver and she was following the car of her boyfriend, Tyson Cook, who had another group of teens.
But as she drove through the intersection of Bowen and East Wellington roads, another vehicle blew through the red light and broadsided Bussiere’s car.
Bussiere spent weeks in hospital in an induced coma and suffering from internal injuries. Cook’s brother Jeremy was also seriously injured in the crash.
On April 25 in Victoria, a suspected drunk driver ran a stop sign and was hit by a taxi on Linden Avenue and Fairfield Road. The driver fled the scene, leaving his four injured passengers trapped in the car, which was pinned against a tree. The car had to be pried apart to free the passengers, all in their 20s.
A 21-year-old Saanich man is facing charges of impaired driving and fleeing the scene of an accident.
All of the cases are still before the courts.
RCMP traffic officer Const. Brian Sampson said he’d be happy to not find a single impaired driver on the roads this weekend, but he’s doubtful that will happen.
“[People ask] how many impaireds are you guys aiming for today? And I say ‘none.’ Ideally, if we had none coming through, it would be probably our best day,” Sampson said.
Statistics
• About one third of car crash fatalities in B.C. are related to impaired driving. Drivers who have a blood alcohol content between .05 and .08 are seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash, according to statistics from the Ministry of Justice.
• On average, 16 people are killed in impaired driving crashes on Vancouver Island every year, says the Insurance Corporation of B.C.
• Drinking and driving deaths are on the decline in B.C. The number of such deaths in B.C. have fallen by 51 per cent since September 2010. The government credits that to immediate roadside bans that made penalties much stiffer for those caught with a blood alcohol level over .05. Drivers who blow a “warn” — over .05 — on a roadside screening device will lose their licence for three days or more. Anyone who blows a “fail,” above the .08 legal limit, will lose their licence for 90 days, have their car impounded for a month and face thousands of dollars in fines.
