“I wasn’t thinking.”
Leslie Sullivan has heard that phrase a lot in her career. The Saskatoon defence lawyer says many drunk drivers she’s represented actually aren’t thinking when they decide to drink and drive.
Sitting in her downtown office, she describes the type of person who is so intoxicated they have no recollection of “deciding” to drive, and those who make conscious decisions to drive after consuming alcohol based on a belief that they are okay.
“We’re asking those individuals to essentially police themselves, to make that decision when they’re in an intoxicated condition,” she says.
Sullivan has both defended and prosecuted drunk driving cases. One of her clients was Catherine McKay, who killed the Van De Vorst family when she crashed into their car at Highway 11 and Wanuskewin Road in January 2016.
Sullivan says McKay does not remember staggering out of the bar that night, or recall how she ended up at the intersection just north of Saskatoon. It wasn’t anywhere near where she was going.
“They’re horrified at the outcome of their drinking and driving. And I’m not suggesting in any way we should feel sorry for these people, because we all know and have been educated to the dangers of drinking and driving,” Sullivan says.
Sullivan says McKay’s intention was to drive, but not drink to the point where she couldn’t operate her vehicle. Even if she doesn’t remember leaving the bar, her decision lies in taking her vehicle out in the first place, she notes.
Defence lawyer Leslie Sullivan in her office in Saskatoon.
Sullivan has even seen cases in which people have taken sober precautions — leaving their car at home or parking several blocks away from the bar — and still ended up drunkenly walking to their car or driving someone else’s vehicle.
“That’s where it comes to individuals head out, planning to not drink and drive, at least that’s in the back of their minds somewhere, but somewhere during the course of alcohol consumption that reason is gone,” she says.
While she agrees with stiffer penalties for drunk drivers, she doesn’t think it’s preventing drunk driving in Saskatchewan. She believes installing mandatory ignition interlocks — sometimes called “blow boxes” — in vehicles right off the assembly line would better ensure the person in the driver’s seat hasn’t consumed alcohol.
“And that’s our goal: to prevent people from getting behind the wheel when they’ve been drinking a small amount, a medium amount and an amount that essentially makes them ‘blotto.’ ”
Even if the ignition interlocks require a lot of administration and financial investment, Sullivan says the end result would be lower insurance rates — and most importantly, fewer crashes.
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