As a new year approaches, drunk driving is still a problem on our roads. The good news is that progress is being made.
In 2000, the number of deaths in road crashes that involved a drinking driver dropped below 900 for the first time on record; that is about 30 per cent of all traffic fatalities. About half of those killed were the drinking drivers themselves, and a further quarter were passengers of drinking drivers.
Altogether, impaired-driving incidents are down 65 per cent from their peak in 1981. The number of deaths and injuries related to impaired driving has gone down almost by half since 1986, despite increasing numbers of drivers and vehicles.
The Canada Safety Council credits the progress to several factors: strong commitment from all stakeholders; changing attitudes and behaviour; public education and awareness, and police enforcement. Our aging populations is another factor — drivers over age 65 have the lowest rates of impaired driving.
Drinking and driving has become socially unacceptable. Now, a very few individuals do most of the impaired driving. Police checks over the holiday season find less than 1 per cent of all drivers have a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05 or higher, with about one in five of these above the criminal limit of 0.08.
High-BAC drivers (those with a blood-alcohol concentration over 0.15) represent about 1 per cent of the cars on the road at night and on weekends, but account for nearly half of all drivers killed at those times. Most of these drinking drivers fall into one of two categories: the young and the hard-core.
More than half of all charges laid are against drivers 19 to 24 years old. Most provinces require a zero BAC for novice drivers. That creates a mindset among some that having a permanent licence means they are allowed to drink and drive. Moreover, under graduated licensing, many young drivers reach the legal drinking age about the same time that they qualify for their permanent licence.
The hard-core group repeatedly drives after drinking, with BACs that are two and three times the legal limit. Many are alcohol dependent, have previous impaired-driving convictions and have driven while suspended. These individuals pose a complex and resistant safety challenge.
Canada has no national law covering all aspects of drinking and driving. In our federal system, different levels of government are responsible for dealing with different parts of the problem.
We do, however, have a national strategy. The Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving (STRID) is a joint initiative by federal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as road-safety organizations including the Canada Safety Council. STRID is an initiative of the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA), which receives its mandate from the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety. Since it began in 1990, STRID has provided leadership in the fight against impaired driving. Needless to say, STRID is focusing on hard-core drinking drivers and younger drivers.
The federal government has authority for the Criminal Code of Canada. Impaired driving is considered a crime. For example, driving with a BAC over 0.08 is a criminal offence. The Constitution of Canada prevents provinces and territories from creating offences relating directly to BAC levels because such offences fall under the Criminal Code. Provinces and territories can enact laws relating to property and civil rights. They regulate driving on provincial roads, and can suspend a drinking driver's licence at the side of the road.
Through their highway-traffic acts, these jurisdictions use their licensing authority to suspend drivers who exceed provincially or federally established BAC limits. Every jurisdiction in Canada has enacted legislation related to drinking and driving, short of creating offences. Provinces impose licence suspensions for drivers convicted of criminal blood-alcohol offences, and most impose temporary suspensions at BACs below the criminal level of 0.08.
In most Canadian provinces, it is impermissible (but not a criminal offence) for ordinary drivers to operate or have care or control of a motor vehicle at levels of about 0.05. Many Canadians are not aware of these measures.
Provincial and federal sanctions are providing a well-thought-out mix of effectiveness, efficiency and severity. However, impaired driving is a complex problem with no simple solutions. We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. All indications are that we have effective laws in place. The challenge for the future will be to enforce those laws well, target high-risk groups and continue to make drinking and driving socially unacceptable.
Emile Therien is the president of the Canada Safety Council.
