The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) released a report on the impact of short-term license suspensions (STS) at the roadside for drinking drivers.
STS is a provincial sanction that has been used in Canada for the last 20 years as a means of immediately removing drivers with a low BAC (blood alcohol content) from the road for a period of 12 to 24 hours. The study assessed the effectiveness of STS in the province of Saskatchewan for BAC levels between 0.04 and 0.08 percent.
"The research shows that driver fatalities with BACs at 0.08 percent or less decreased in the years following the introduction of the new Saskatchewan law. However the numbers are very small, making it difficult to determine whether or not the changes were caused by the law," said Deanna Singhal, a co-author of the report. "We definitely need more research on this topic to determine if short-term suspensions at the roadside have a statistically significant impact on drinking and driving behaviors."
The study found that police issue short-term suspensions about as often as they lay Criminal Code charges, thereby removing twice as many drinking drivers from the road than would occur if only Criminal Code charges were available. The findings from the report also demonstrate that more information is required to determine the long-term impact of STS in Canadian provinces.
"Short-term suspensions and Criminal Code sanctions are complementary measures implemented by our federal and provincial governments that jointly fight impaired driving," said Maureen Murray from CAA Saskatchewan. "Under the short-term suspension law, police officers issue approximately the same number of short-term suspensions as Criminal Code impaired driving charges, allowing them to remove larger numbers of drinking drivers from the road."
The study was commissioned by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AAA FTS) and is available online at www.caa.ca and at www.trafficinjuryresearch.com.