The Road Safety Monitor 2004 : drinking and driving.

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 fourth 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 they believe it is the most important road safety issue they face - 85% believe it is a serious problem. The vast majority of Canadians (over 80%) say they have not driven after drinking at any time in the past month. On the other hand, at least 18% of Canadians -- an estimated 3.9 million -- said they have driven after drinking sometime in the past month. Teenage drivers are much less likely to have driven after drinking than other age groups. The vast majority of Canadians (nearly 95%) say that in the past year, they have not driven when they felt they were over the legal limit. On the other hand, 5.6%, or an estimated 1.2 million, said that they had done so, meaning there were over 4.2 million trips in the past year during which the driver felt they were over the legal limit. Teenage drivers account for only 5% of all the impaired driving trips; far less than any other age group. 88% of all the impaired driving trips are accounted for by a small (4%) group of drivers. Trends show that the reported prevalence of driving after drinking and the prevalence of gdriving while impairedh have been declining. Driving within two hours of using marijuana remains an infrequent behaviour. Only 2.1% of drivers reported doing so. Canadian drivers support a variety of initiatives to deal effectively with drinking and driving, such as requiring drivers suspected of drinking to perform coordination tests, alcohol ignition interlocks, mandatory blood, urine, or saliva tests for drugs, and greater use of police spot checks. Only about one-third of drivers were aware of a lower alcohol limit in their province which can result in a 12- or 24-hour suspension. (Author/publisher)