Drunk Driving In Canada By The Numbers
According to the 2006 report from the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, concerns about impaired driving came in at the very top of a survey about what worries us most on the roads - even beating the price of gasoline by more than 20 points.
Major Road Worries
Drinking drivers: 88%
Red light running: 75.5%
Child safety: 73.9%
Street racing: 73.2%
Distract driving: 68.7%
Speeding: 66.1%
Cell phones: 65.9%
Drowsy drivers: 60.5%
Older drivers: 32.1%
Young drivers: 29.88%
Why do people drink and drive?
Believe they can drive safely: 42.2%
Won't get caught: 37.2%
Don't think they're drunk: 32.9%
Can't get home any other way: 25.6%
Drank more than intended: 25.3%
Penalties don't deter them: 23.4%
Drinking and Driving Deaths in Canada
While the numbers of people killed in drunk driving crashes across Canada have deflated since 1995, they're still disturbingly high.
1995: 1,296
1996: 1,097
1997: 1,070
1998: 986
1999: 906
2000: 864
2001: 874
2002: 850
2003: 902
2004: 815
People who have knowingly driven over the legal limit during a year
1998: 9.1%
2001: 7.3%
2002: 7.9%
2003: 6.3%
2004: 5.6%
2005: 6.7%
2006: 7.7%
The Foundation uses projections to show that some 1.7 million Canadians have driven a vehicle knowing they were probably over the legal limit - or some 10.2 million car trips.