New laws regarding the use of breathalyzer tests in roadside stops took effect on Tuesday across Canada. RCMP Sergeant Mark Hume details the changes to the law that came into effect.

He says the biggest thing people are going to see is roadside breath testing. 

"Prior to Tuesday, we had to suspect that they had alcohol in their body," says Hume. "That had to be an admission of drinking, a smell of liquor on their breath or liquor in the vehicle or something like that. Not just that they came from a licensed establishment. Now it's with every single traffic stop, police officers have the right to demand a breath test at any time during a traffic stop."

As of Tuesday that suspicion has been removed. It's called mandatory alcohol screening. Every driver has to submit to a roadside breath test at any time a police officer asks.

The reasoning behind it is the success gained in other countries that implemented the law, including 22 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Ireland and a few others. Some U.S. States have also implemented the system. It's had a massive impact on reducing impaired driving fatalities. All of these countries involved saw a reduction of fatalities by about 20 to 45 per cent during the first year the ruling was made. And those results were maintained in years following. It's proved to be a huge deterrent to the public to realize the chances of getting caught while driving impaired have significantly increased.

Statistics from the police indicated many impaired instances were slipping through the cracks due to not being able to detect them. Hume notes some are able to hide their drinking more than others, and during a short interaction with them, police often miss these cases. Without requiring suspicion, a breath test can be administered any time someone is pulled over to resolve that problem.

Each individual police officer uses discretion to determine if a breath sample needs to be taken, and most can tell if there is suspicion or not. Hume says time of day, location, and similar factors play into that. Someone rolling through a stop sign going to the post office would indicate no real need for a breath test, but on a late Friday night there will  likely be a vast majority of drivers whom they will stop and see all tested. He says that's typically when more impaired driving occurs.

Some provinces are literally testing every single driver being pulled over. Hume says that's not the case here, and each officer is given authority to make that decision.

Hume has a response to those who believe that their rights are being violated.

"Driving is a privilege in this country, not a right," says Hume. "If you want to have a driver's licence this is something that you're going to have to submit yourself to. It is a very, very short test. The entire test and procedure take less than one minute. It's not something where people are going to be detained roadside or handcuffed and put in the back of a police car. I think once people go through it they're going to realize it wasn't an inconvenience to them at all."