In December 1985, the Department of Justice Canada amended the drinking and driving sections of the Criminal Code, which included among other changes, an increase in the severity of penalties for impaired driving. This paper describes the results of an evaluation examining whether or not these changes in legislation had an impact on the drinking-driving problem in Canada. A wide variety of data on drinking and driving behaviours and its consequences - ie, alcohol-related crashes - were examined for evidence of an impact of the legislative amendments. The data provided evidence that substantial and dramatic reductions in the drinking-driving problem occurred in Canada during the 1980s. Despite these the 1980s. Despite these reductions, there was no evidence that could specifically attribute the reductions to the introduction of the 1985 legislative amendments. Several reasons why the legislation did not have an impact included; the public was unaware of the change in legislation; the law was not fully implemented; the law had unexpected and countervailing effects; and, the amendments related primarily to the severity of sanctions and not to the certainty and swiftness of their application. (A)
Abstract