Fast and dangerous: more and more young drivers are playing Russian roulette

More and more young people find themselves before the courts because of their dangerous driving, reports a seasoned Crown prosecutor, while a new compilation from our Bureau of Investigation reveals that several drivers have been accused repeatedly in the last years.

M^e Sylvie Dulude is unequivocal: there is “definitely” work to be done in terms of road safety in Quebec.

“The work to be done is a lot at the level of young drivers,” summarizes the prosecutor specializing in automobile driving at the office of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) in Montreal.

She says she sees more and more individuals trying to flee the police, for example. A trend that the lawyer did not observe 5, 10, or even 15 years ago.

“We often talk about 18-year-olds. They barely had their license and [peut-être] let them imagine that they are not going to get caught,” says M.^e Dulude

They don’t understand anything

By compiling all criminal charges of dangerous driving since 2019 in provincial court*, our Bureau of Investigation found the case of a man facing seven charges. Two other people, Lesane Pillay and Samuel Daigneault, were accused no less than five times during this period.

That’s not all. We also found five other individuals with four dangerous driving charges.

This is the case of Serge Breton-McGinnis. The 31-year-old was also caught 11 times while driving despite being banned. A judge called his conduct “completely erratic.”

Young people only 18 years old like Rodney Benjamin Laroche and Alexandru Noris Badescu have found a way, in a very short time, to carve out a place among the worst Quebec drivers with three charges.

“When a person drives down a street in an urban environment at very high speed, for his own pleasure, to the detriment of everyone’s safety, it is equivalent to playing Russian roulette, but with the lives of innocent third parties,” illustrated Judge Pierre E. Labelle in a decision in 2023.

No more reprieve?

Faced with such risk-taking, the public prosecutor will not hesitate to send offenders behind bars, warns M^e Dulude

“It is certain that if they are brought before the courts, they will be severely punished by imprisonment,” she says.

However, more and more criminals could get away with sentences in the community due to an amendment to the Criminal Code dating from November 2022. This abolished minimum sentences for certain crimes.

“I will maintain that denunciation and deterrence are essential for this type of case because it is a scourge in society. And I am convinced that these criteria require firm imprisonment,” explains Sylvie Dulude.

*This excludes data from municipal courts in Quebec.