Safer roads are just around the corner.

At least that's the goal behind new drinking-and-driving legislation that will come into force in less than a month.

As of Sept. 20, police in B.C. will be armed with the toughest legal tools in Canada to get impaired drivers off the roads, faster and for longer periods of time.

According to Solicitor General Mike de Jong, impaired driving has been on the rise in B.C. - an alarming revelation that spurred the provincial government to make it easier to remove the perpetrators from their vehicles.

When the new law comes into effect, drinking drivers who fail the Criminal Code standard breath test will be immediately banned from driving for 90 days, will have their vehicle impounded for 30 days and will be fined $500 - aside from possible criminal charges that carry additional fines and potential jail terms.

The new provincial legislation adds a "warning" range to the standard breathalyzer test.

A reading between 0.05 and the criminally liable 0.08 will earn the errant driver a three-day driving ban and a $200 fine.

Getting caught at that level more than once within five years ups the ante to a seven-day ban and a $300 fine the second time, and a 30-day ban with a $400 fine for a third time.

Research has shown that, although below the Criminal Code's radar, drivers with breath alcohol levels between 0.05 and 0.08 per cent are seven times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than sober drivers are.

Numbers of impaired driving charges rose 18 per cent from 2008 to 2009.

That is unacceptable.

That is, in fact, fatally unacceptable.

There will be no tears from us for anyone who feels hard done by when they get nailed under the new law.