The Road Safety Monitor is an annual public opinion survey by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) that takes the pulse of the nation on key road safety issues by means of a comprehensive telephone survey of a random, representative sample of Canadian drivers. The results from this third edition of the Road Safety Monitor are being released in a series of reports that cover several key issues – the present report focuses on drinking and driving. Results show that drinking and driving is a priority social issue for Canadians and the most important road safety issue they face – 84% believe it is a serious problem. 15.8% of drivers report driving a vehicle within two hours of consuming alcohol in the past 30 days. This represents a slight decrease from the 16.7% and 16.1% who reported doing so in the 2001 and 2002 Road Safety Monitor, respectively. However, this means that an estimated 3.5 million Canadian drivers admit to driving after drinking at some time during the past 30 days. 6.3% of drivers say that they have driven at some time during the past year when they thought they were over the legal limit – a slight but not statistically significant decrease from the 7.9% who reported doing so last year and the 7.3% the year before. This means that in the past year, an estimated 1.4 million Canadians drove when they thought they were impaired. It is estimated that there were over 5.5 million impaired driving trips in the past year. However, 86% of all impaired driving trips are accounted for by just 3% of drivers. Young drivers (age 16 to 18) and older drivers (age 65 and over) are least likely to drive after drinking. Drivers between 25 and 34 are most likely to report driving after drinking. Drivers in Atlantic Canada are least likely to report driving after drinking. Drivers in British Columbia are most likely to report doing so. Canadian drivers support initiatives to deal effectively with drinking and driving including: requiring drivers suspected of drinking to perform sobriety tests, mandatory breath testing of drivers involved in collisions, alcohol ignition interlocks, immediate impoundment of vehicles driven by impaired drivers, a zero blood alcohol concentration (BAC) restriction for convicted offenders, and greater use of police spot checks. Only 6% of drivers could correctly identify the lower alcohol limit which can result in a 12- or 24-hour suspension in their province. (Author/publisher)
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