Department of Public Safety - Road Safety Vision 2010

The National Target

The national target calls for a 30% decrease in the average number of road users killed and seriously injured during the 2008-2010 period compared to 1996-2001.

Sub-Targets

The sub-targets focus on areas where the largest numbers of serious casualties occur and where the greatest potential for reductions exists. They include:

Road Safety Vision 2010 Action Plans
Sub-Target	National Occupant Restraint Program	Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving	High-Risk Driver	Speed & Intersection Safety Management	Motor Carrier Safety
Minimum seat belt wearing rates of 95% and proper use of child restraints by all motor vehicles occupants.	X
A 40% decrease in the number of unbelted fatally or seriously injured vehicle occupants.	X
A 40% decrease in the number of road users fatally or seriously injured on rural roadways.	X	X
A 40% decrease in the percent of road users fatally or seriously injured in crashes involving a drinking driver.		X
A 20% decrease in the number of road users fatally or seriously injured in crashes involving high-risk drivers.			X
A 20% decrease in the number of young drivers/riders (those aged 16-19 years) killed or seriously injured in crashes.			X
A 20% reduction in the number of road users killed or seriously injured in speed and intersection related crashes.				X
A 30% decrease in the number of fatally or seriously injured vulnerable road users (pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists) killed or seriously injured.				X
A 20% decrease in the number of road users killed or seriously injured in crashes involving commercial vehicles.					X

High Risk Driver

As part of Vision 2001, the CCMTA’s Standing Committee on Road Safety Research and Policies created a task force on high risk drivers (HRD). A key item of the task force mandate was to develop an overall strategy to deal with the high risk driver.

High risk drivers persistently engage in a range of behaviours such as impaired driving, non-use of seat belts, speeding and running red lights that increase their probability of being involved in collisions resulting in fatalities and/or serious injuries.

The proposed objective is to reduce, by 20%, the number of fatalities and serious injuries associated with the high risk drivers by 2010.

The accepted definition of the HRD is:

A driver who has been involved in three or more distinct events (a traffic violation, a Criminal Code offence or a collision) within a two-year period.
A driver convicted of a first offence with a blood alcohol content (BAC)…16 of refusal to provide a breath sample or of a repeat offence (including driving while prohibited or disqualified.

Analysis

It is important to pinpoint the three main high risk or target groups:

Young Drivers (25 years old)
Hard Core drinking drivers (BAC…16 or repeat offenders)
Drivers with 3 previous distinct events within a two-year period

By definition, high risk drivers are reluctant to change which prompts the necessity of stringent countermeasures; the potential of promotional/educational measures appears very limited among a group who have a record of persistently disobeying the law and disregarding safety.