|
Smashed
TP 1535 E
|
 |
Public awareness and concern about the problem reached unprecedented levels
during the 1980s. Tougher new laws were introduced and enforcement efforts
were redoubled in an attempt to deter drinkers from getting behind the wheel.
As a result, changes in public attitudes and opinions began to take shape.
Roadside surveys of nighttime drivers found significantly smaller numbers who
had consumed alcohol and who were legally impaired. This decline in the
number of impaired drivers on the road was reflected in a decrease in the number
of drivers who died after consuming alcohol.
| As remarkable and encouraging as these reductions have been, the problem has not gone away.
About four
million Canadians admit to driving after drinking. Each year there were
over 4.2 million trips during which the driver felt they were over the
legal limit. Impaired drivers continue to account for 29% all driver
fatalities.
Approximately 1,055 people die each year in alcohol-related motor
vehicle crashes. Many thousands more sustain serious injuries. It is
estimated that the annual costs associated with health care, damaged
property and lost wages resulting from crashes involving alcohol in
Canada exceed $5 billion.
|
|
Percent of Fatally Injured
Drivers with Positive BACs*
*These data on alcohol use by drivers fatally injured in motor vehicle
crashes in Canada is compiled and maintained by the Traffic Injury
Research Foundation under sponsorship from the Canadian Council of Motor
Transport Administrators and Transport Canada.
BAC=Blood Alcohol Concentration |
|
Figures indicate that in recent years we may have reached a plateau in
attempting to improve the situation. Some have suggested that the gains made
during the 1980s have caused us to become complacent. Others have suggested that
the earlier efforts affected primarily those drinking drivers who were easiest
to reach and whose behaviour was easiest to change. They say that many or most
of today’s drinking drivers belong to a relatively small group of heavy
drinkers who frequently drive often, after consuming large amounts of alcohol.
In fact, this group of "hard core" offenders is responsible for a high
proportion of all alcohol-related driving problems.
In many ways, the impaired driving problem we face today is very different
from the one we dealt with in the 1980s. In other ways, it is very similar. But
one thing is certain: the demand for innovative programs and policies to deal
with the ongoing problem of drinking and driving remains as strong as ever.
|
