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MONCTON - Increased police powers to fight impaired driving in New Brunswick will send a strong message to motorists, says Public Safety Minister John Foran.

"If you're in New Brunswick, you'd better not drink and drive," he said.

But lawyers in the Moncton area say the message being sent is that individual rights are not important.

"The Charter of Rights is what makes our country great," said veteran Moncton lawyer Robert Rideout.

"We live in a country that respects people's rights and that's what makes Canada unique."

The new legislation was introduced in February 2007 and comes into effect Monday.

It's part of a bigger plan to make roads safer, which includes losing more points for seatbelt infractions and increased fines for speeding violations in construction sites and school zones.

Under the changes, police in the province will have authority to randomly stop vehicles, demand documentation from drivers, and conduct field sobriety tests to determine whether there is evidence of impairment.

Officers will no longer be limited to pulling over a motorist whose driving shows signs of possible impairment, such as weaving or crossing over the centre line.

Foran said that under common law, it was already implied that officers could pull people over for random checks, but the wording left the door open for defendants to challenge the reason for their stop in court.

He said the change simply makes it more explicit in the law that police are allowed to pull drivers over and conduct sobriety tests to determine if they're impaired.

That test could be either out-of-car testing, such as walking a straight line, or testing with the breathalyzer.

Another change is that drivers with a blood-alcohol concentration of more than .08, or drivers who refuse to provide a blood or breath sample, will be subject to a three-month administrative licence suspension.

Their licence is suspended for 24 hours, then they're given a temporary seven-day drivers licence while police and the Crown make a decision on charges.

If impaired charges are laid, their licence can be suspended for 90 days.

Foran said both measures are designed to make roads safer by reducing the number of people killed or injured by drunk drivers.

Police in New Brunswick like the change.

"This enhanced authority will enable our province's police officers to more effectively combat drinking and driving," said Chief Barry MacKnight, president of the New Brunswick Association of Chiefs of Police and chief of the Fredericton Police Force.

"I am confident that these new tools will prevent injuries and save lives."