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 fifth 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 remains a priority social issue for Canadians. They also believe it is the most important road safety issue they face – over 8 out of every 10 Canadians believe it is a serious problem. Trends show that since 1998 the reported prevalence of driving after drinking as well as the prevalence of “driving while impaired” have been declining. However, the gains in recent years have not been as pronounced. The vast majority of Canadians (about 85%) say they have not driven after drinking at any time in the past month. On the other hand, about 15% of Canadian drivers -- an estimated 3.2 million -- said they have driven after drinking sometime in the past month. The vast majority of Canadians (over 93%) say that in the past year, they have not driven when they felt they were over the legal limit. On the other hand, 6.7%, or an estimated 1.5 million drivers, said that they had done so, meaning there were over 7.8 million trips in the past year during which the driver felt they were over the legal limit. 84% of all these impaired driving trips are accounted for by less than 3% of drivers. Canadian drivers support a variety of initiatives to deal effectively with drinking and driving, such as alcohol ignition interlocks and impounding the vehicles of those who fail a breath test. Only 17% of Canadian drivers believe the current BAC limit of 80 mg/dl in the Criminal Code should be lower. Only about one-third of drivers are aware that a lower alcohol threshold actually exists in their province, which can result in a 12- or 24-hour driving suspension. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting