B.C.'s solicitor general says the province will move to get more drunks off the road with legislation that includes immediate sanctions against impaired drivers.

A group lobbying for tougher impaired driving laws predicted the legislation will also include dropping the blood-alcohol limit to 0.05 per cent from 0.08.

'We are going to take assertive steps here in British Columbia.'—B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed

Solicitor General Kash Heed said Friday that B.C. would soon have among the most aggressive anti-drinking-and-driving laws in the country.

The legislation due this spring will be accompanied by a massive public information campaign aimed at young and new drivers.

"We are going to take assertive steps here in British Columbia to deal with impaired driving on our streets," said Heed.

"We will probably have the most aggressive approach at the end of the day to deal with this."

Heed would not discuss details of the proposed new legislation, but Mothers Against Drunk Driving said it likely involves reducing the blood-alcohol content threshold for drivers to 0.05 per cent.

Since last May, drivers caught with a blood-alcohol level between 0.05 and 0.08 in Ontario automatically have their licences suspended for three days.

Bob Rorison, with Metro Vancouver Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the B.C. government has been discussing dropping the blood-alcohol threshold to 0.05 per cent with members of his organization.

Would match other jurisdictions

Rorison said Europe and Australia moved their impaired limit to 0.05 per cent and related deaths and injuries dropped by 35 per cent.

Manitoba has a zero-tolerance for drinking and driving infractions for drivers with five years or less experience.

Rorison said the lower threshold would mean police in British Columbia would have the power to temporarily suspend driving privileges for many more drivers.

"It's only laws that change people's habits," he said. "If people have the habit of drinking and driving — if they are accustomed to that — we want to change their habit of having the so-called few beer and taking to the roads."

Rorison said British Columbians who want to drink at their neighbourhood establishments should plan to walk there or take public transit or taxis.

"We want to lower the deaths and injuries caused by drunk driving," he said.

MADD says four Canadians die every day in drunk driving accidents and 207 people are injured.

The president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police said his organization welcomes changes that make it easier for police to get more impaired drivers off the road.

Deputy Chief Clayton Pecknold of the Central Saanich Police Department said police chiefs across Canada have been lobbying the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to make impaired driving laws less complex for police.

It is against the law in Canada to drive with a blood-alcohol content level above 0.08 per cent.