Work to increase driver awareness associated with the risk of driving impaired, whether by drugs or alcohol is continuing in communities across the country.
The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) in partnership with Diageo, North America, established the Impaired Driving Coalition of Canada (IDCC), to develop a National Action Plan, working in groups, using the expertise of partners from across Canada.
North Bay was selected as the first regional workshop representing the Province of Ontario.
“While there is always progress being made, it is the persistency of the problem,” stated Robyn Robertson, President of the Traffic Injury Research Foundation about the issue of impaired driving.
The idea is to take the work down to a community level and empower communities to undertake prevention and awareness that is going to make a difference, with a focus on data, education, and technologies.
“The focus today is to hear from law enforcement, EMS, hospital staff, and public health officials what the nature of impaired driving is in their community. It is one of the biggest contributors to road crashes. One in four fatal crashes involves impairment as a contributing factor,” stated Robertson.
The North Bay workshop included representatives from Timmins, New Liskeard, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, and of course North Bay, all looking at ways to identify how their community can get the help and resources needed to address the problem of impaired driving.
“In northern Ontario, it is a bit of a unique situation because some of the traditional alternatives we talk about with taxis and buses and ride shares often aren’t really options,” stated Robertson.
Participants shared the problems they experience in their community in terms of a particular population, demographic, or jurisdiction of roads, helping them identify interventions and strategies to tackle those issues.
Going into the morning session, Inspector of Operations with North Bay City Police Service, Jeff Warner was looking for valuable insight on strategies happening across the country, that he can share with the local service.
“What we’ve seen over the past couple of years is a bit of a decrease in impaired driving by alcohol and an increase in impaired driving by drugs,” stated Wagner.
Year to date as of early October, Warner’s statistics show 28 impaired by alcohol, compared to 53 in all of 2023, and 26 impaired by drugs so far in 2024, compared to 23 in all of 2023.
Northeast Region OPP Inspector Dave Walach says dealing with impaired driving, or any safety initiative for the highways is a shared responsibility.
“We’re looking to share information and collaborate on innovative approaches to reduce impaired driving. “
Impaired driving isn’t just a Christmas holiday issue.
“Impaired driving is a year-round problem. And actually, we see a majority of fatal collisions happening in summer and fall months which is kind of counterintuitive,” shared Robertson.
“So, it is one of those issues that is perennially out there. The good news in Canada is, we’ve made significant progress reducing fatalities and injuries, but there are still almost 400 people a year killed in road crashes due to impaired driving in Canada.”
At the end of the day, the closed-door North Bay workshop gave participants something to think about.
“We’re hoping to enable communities to raise awareness in their communities that impaired driving is still a problem,” explained Robertson.
“More importantly it is really to give communities a voice with provincial authorities in terms of road safety strategies and what kind of resources and tools communities need, in particular northern communities and smaller communities.”
