Strict Drink Driving Laws Lead to Drop in Fatal Crashes

Researchers have found that changes made to British Columbia's law against impaired driving helped dramatically lower the rate of crashes, ambulance calls and hospital admissions.

The new study led by the University of British Columbia found that strict laws imposed by the B.C. government in September 2010, helped reduce the crashes related to drinking and driving.

As per the harsh penalties introduced in 2010, the first time offenders with 0.05 percent-0.08 percent of blood alcohol content (BAC) had their driving licence suspended for three days, pay a fine of $600 fine and, at police discretion, had their vehicles seized for three days. The penalties were harsher when the BAC crossed 0.08 percent.

The researchers noticed that due to the changes in the law in 2010, there was a 21 percent drop in automobile crashes, 8 percent drop in crash-related hospital admissions and 7.2 percent drop in crash-related ambulance calls. Based on these statistics, it is estimated that each year there are 84 fewer fatal crashes, 308 fewer hospital admissions and 2,553 fewer ambulance calls for road trauma.

"Our findings add to the growing evidence that the new laws, although controversial to some, were associated with marked improvements in road safety," said lead author Jeffrey Brubacher, associate professor of Emergency Medicine at UBC, researcher with Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and a VCH Emergency Department physician. "We hope that other jurisdictions will follow B.C.'s lead in implementing similar laws designed to deter dangerous driving."

In a research conducted earlier, researcher Dr. Brubacher observed a 40 percent drop in alcohol-related fatal crashed and a 23 percent fall in alcohol-related injury collision during the year the law was implemented.

The finding is documented in the American Journal of Public Health.