Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Canada (MADD Canada) expressed an interest in determining the relationship in Ontario between stiffer penalties borne upon drivers convicted of alcohol related Criminal Code Offences and the number of drivers failing to have their licence reactivated upon the completion of their suspension. It was speculated by MADD Canada that due to these stiffer penalties, some drivers may be simply ‘dropping out of the system’, by deciding not to complete any actions required to get their licence reactivated. These same drivers may be continuing to drive with an invalid licence. This study will examine all first-time one-year Criminal Code licence suspensions in the province of Ontario from January 1st, 1991 to December 31st, 2001. The term ‘first-time’ refers to the status of the offender, this would either be their ‘first’ offence, or would have been their first offence for a set number of years. A Criminal Code licence suspension would be either: • criminal negligence; • failure to remain at the scene of an accident; • dangerous driving; • impaired driving; • having a blood alcohol limit over 0.08 mg; • failure to provide a breath sample to police; or • driving while disqualified. Use of these criteria allowed for a large group of suspensions to be examined, as a majority of licence suspensions involve first time offenders and most first-time Criminal Code suspensions are exactly one year in length. Given the relatively short time period of the suspension, the licence status of the offender can then be verified for immediate reactivation for the time period January 1, 1992 – December 31, 2002. Using the same criteria over the entire study period allows for changes in the number of suspensions to be observed on an annual basis. The analysis presented in this report will show trends on an annual basis among: • one-year suspensions2; • one-year suspensions, licence reactivated immediately3; • one-year suspensions, licence not reactivated immediately; • one-year alcohol and non-alcohol related suspensions, not reactivated immediately; • one-year alcohol and non-alcohol related suspensions among males aged 21-45 years4 (at the time of the suspension), not reactivated immediately; and • one-year alcohol-related suspensions, licence not reactivated six months beyond the suspension end date. None of the analysis undertaken will be able to provide a direct cause-and-effect between stiffer penalties in recent years and drivers deciding not to complete any actions required to get their licence reactivated. This study cannot make any statements regarding the mindset of drivers. It can only show the general trends in the number and proportion of one-year suspensions occurring over time. (Author/publisher)
Abstract