Backgrounder: BC’s drinking and driving laws mean fewer deaths

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, it is a criminal offence to drive while impaired by alcohol with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 80mg/100ml (0.08) or greater, or to refuse a breath test. In addition, driving at BACs of 50mg/100ml is against the law in BC and most provinces under provincial legislation.

Enforcement of laws under the Criminal Code of Canada is time consuming and expensive for both the police and courts. Collecting evidence by police requires sophisticated breath-testing equipment housed at a police station, along with considerable paperwork. A single charge for driving while impaired by alcohol under the criminal code takes police an average of two hours 48 minutes to process and four hours of police time in court, if the case goes to trial.

In response, most Canadian provinces and territories have enacted administrative sanctions for drivers with BAC levels between 40-80mg/100ml.

British Columbia introduced its Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) legislation in 2010 hoping to deter drinking drivers by increasing the certainty, severity and swiftness of sanctions.

The legislation was criticized for the power it gives police to apprehend drinking drivers without giving drivers the same safeguards provided under the Criminal Code. In November 2011, the BC Supreme Court upheld the province’s right to pass the legislation, but ruled parts of the law infringed the Charter. As a result, the province enacted changes to enhance fairness at the roadside and in the review process. For example, police must tell drivers they have the right to a second breath test on a second approved screening device, with the lower of the two readings prevailing.

The study by the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research (CARBC) shows that BC’s legislation has had a major effect on alcohol-related collisions—a 40.4 per cent reduction in fatalities, 23.4 per cent decrease in injury collisions and 19.5 per cent decrease in property damage collisions. The researchers conclude that the IRP and associated publicity has been more effective for minimizing alcohol-related collisions than laws under the Canadian Criminal Code.

The CARBC study, “The Impact on Alcohol-Related Collisions of the Partial Decriminalization of Impaired Driving in British Columbia” is available online in the peer-reviewed academic journal Accident Analysis and Prevention. It is co-authored by: CARBC’s Drs. Scott Macdonald, Jinhui Zhao, Gina Martin, and Tim Stockwell; the University of British Columbia’s (Department of Emergency Medicine) Drs. Jeff Brubacher and Herbert Chan; and the BC Ministry of Justice’s (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) Mr. Neil Arason and Ms. Susanne Steinmetz.