This fact sheet summarizes findings about drinking and driving in Canada from the Road Safety Monitor (RSM), 2015, a national public opinion poll on road safety issues. This annual poll is conducted by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) in partnership with Beer Canada, State Farm and the Toyota Canada Foundation. The survey takes the pulse of the nation on key road safety issues by means of an online survey of a random, representative sample of Canadian drivers. How many Canadians die in traffic crashes involving a drinking driver? In 2012, the most recent year for which data are available, 563 Canadians were killed in a traffic crash involving a drinking driver. These data are based upon fatality data collected from 12 jurisdictions in Canada as the data from British Columbia (BC) were not available at the time that the 2015 Road Safety Monitor was prepared. Thus, all fatality data from 1995-2012 that are reported in this fact sheet excludes this jurisdiction. The 2012 data reveal a sustained decrease in relation to the number of Canadians who were killed in a crash involving a drinking driver as compared to 2006. There were fewer people killed in 2012 as compared to those who died in 2008 (664), and it was only slightly higher than the number of persons who died in 2011 (553). Of note, the number of persons who died in crashes involving a drinking driver between 1995 and 2012 reached its lowest point in 2011. In terms of trends, although there was an overall decreasing trend in alcohol-related road deaths from 2006 through 2009, in 2010 this trend was reversed with a slight increase in the number of alcohol-related deaths. However, this number again declined during 2011 and increased slightly in 2012. Since it is not clear if this trend will continue beyond 2012, further monitoring is required. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting