It was a tragic scene for residents of the Cimarron community during the early morning hours of Saturday morning.
A car was in a mangled wreck, and a young woman with horrendous injuries that would later claim her life laid in a bloody mess in the middle of the street.
Just before 3 a.m. on July 23, a red Ford Mustang was travelling at a high speed on Cimarron Boulevard when it lost control and hit a lamppost.
Twenty-year-old Eve Parisi, of Ste-Catherines, Que., was ejected from the car’s backseat and died in a Calgary hospital later that day. An 18-year-old male passenger in the front seat was trapped inside the wreck and suffered serious injuries.
RCMP say speed and alcohol are both factors in the collision and they are considering charges in the case.
It is a scene that is all too familiar, yet entirely preventable.
According to Okotoks RCMP Sgt. Ian Shardlow, one-in-five vehicle collisions involve alcohol.
Don’t drink and drive, it’s a simple message that has been replayed over and over again.
Yet it’s a wonder some people still decide to get behind the wheel after having one to many to drink.
If people still haven’t heard the message, perhaps it’s time provincial MLAs consider taking a page out of British Columbia’s law book and tighten up the rules against impaired driving.
Alberta’s neighbour to the west passed some of the toughest impaired driving laws in Canada last year.
In B.C., drivers with a blood alcohol level between 0.05 and 0.08 face an immediate three-day driving ban and a $200 fine. Do it a second time in a five-year period, and it’s a seven-day driving ban and a $300 fine. A third time will get you a 30-day ban and a $400 fine.
Drivers who blow over the legal limit, or those who refuse to provide a breath sample, aren’t just risking criminal charges, they will also face a 90-day driving ban, a 500 fine and their vehicle will be impounded for 90 days.
The strict laws seem to be working. The B.C. provincial government announced earlier this month that in the first seven months of the new laws, B.C. recorded a 50 per cent drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths.
The next time you order that second, third or fourth beer, think again if you’re willing to be responsible for the death of yourself, your passengers, or even worse— another innocent driver on the road.
It’s just not worth it.
