The “Eliminating Impaired Driving: The Road Ahead” Workshop was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, October 12-14, 2000. It was organized and convened by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) with the financial assistance of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, Transport Canada, the Canada Safety Council and the Saskatchewan Government Insurance. In 1990, CCMTA established the Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving (STRID) to reduce by 20 % the percentage of fatalities involving a drinking driver by 1995. The strategy was renewed in 1995, with the improved target of a 20 % decrease in the percentage of fatalities and serious injuries by 2001. The strategy was managed on an ongoing basis by the Task Force on STRID 2001. The process is underway to renew the Task Force and to develop the new strategy, STRID 2010, of which this workshop was part. The objectives of the workshop were to: acknowledge the 10-year history of STRID; update the current strategy; refocus priorities; broaden participation and interaction beyond transportation stakeholders; identify roadblocks; identify impaired driving as a social problem and energize action; and develop a new Canadian strategy involving major stakeholders. Over the past 25 years, total road crashes and crash fatalities have dramatically decreased, despite an increase in the number of drivers and vehicles and estimates of miles driven. While progress has been significant, there is a long way to go. The current death, injury and property damage levels from impaired driving remain unacceptable to Canadians. There are many perceptions about the chances of being caught and/or convicted, which often do not agree with the current data; for example, the national conviction rate is 77%, while it is often reported that a significant proportion of impaired drivers are not convicted. The national workshop presentations and discussions focused on six categories: first sanctioned drivers, social drinkers, hard core drinking drivers, new/young drivers, new emerging issues and legal process. A preview document called ISSUES DOCUMENT was distributed to participants prior to the workshop, is reproduced within each section of this proceedings and is called “Issue (pre-workshop)”. It is followed by a section entitled “Results (post-workshop)” which details the results of the breakout group sessions. The report describes activities at the workshop and identifies the key findings and recommendations which, in section 3, have been regrouped under the following sub-headings: education, enforcement, policy/legislation, medical, research and stakeholders. Time did not allow any prioritization of recommendations at the workshop. What is reported in the post-workshop portion represents the views of workshop participants and is not necessarily the views of the sponsoring agencies or the Task Force on STRID 2001. CCMTA extended its road safety vision to 2010 and in support of this vision, STRID will be extended. The Task Force on STRID 2001 is currently reviewing the key findings and recommendations, and will be tabling, in 2001, a new generation STRID for approval by the Standing Committee on Road Safety Research and Policies, and subsequently, by the CCMTA Board of Directors. (Author/publisher)
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