Drinking and Driving in Alberta

At a Glance – Strengthening Alberta’s approach to impaired driving

• This legislation does not prevent responsible Albertans from having a drink with dinner or friends.
• Instead, it targets repeat offenders in particular.
• Alberta does not believe that fines are the solution. These changes do not include fines or new demerit point offenses.
• Instead, our focus is on safer roads. This made-in-Alberta approach focuses on changing behaviours through mandatory courses and ignition interlock.
• Alberta is focusing on Criminal Code offences, repeat offenders and new drivers.
• Education and enforcement are both key to Alberta's approach.

Key Changes

Questions and Answers

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Alcohol Impairment Levels

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Quick Facts and stats

• 22% of drivers involved in fatal collisions have consumed some alcohol.(Alberta Traffic Collision Information System)
• 96 deaths and 1,384 injuries occurred in alcohol-related collisions in 2010. (Alberta Traffic Collision Information System)
• Impaired driving charges take up an estimated 40% of all trial time of Crown Prosecutors in Alberta’s courts. (Alberta Justice)

Other jurisdictions

• 8 jurisdictions have already passed laws imposing tougher sanctions for drivers with blood alcohol between .05 and .08 (Saskatchewan starts at .04)
• Every Canadian jurisdiction, other than Quebec, already gives at least 24-hour roadside suspensions to drivers suspected of being impaired or having .05 to .08 blood alcohol.

The Current Situation

Drinking and driving imposes enormous costs on our society. The true cost of drinking and driving is the victims. Since 2006, through 2010, 569 people were killed and 8530 people were injured in alcohol-related collisions. In 2010 alone, 96 people were killed and 1384 were injured.

Alcohol-Related Casualty Collisions in Alberta:

• As the severity of the collision increases, so does the likelihood that a traffic collision involved a drinking driver.
• On average in Alberta, one in five drivers involved in fatal collisions had been drinking prior to the collision. This compares to an average of about one in 20 drivers involved in injury collisions.
• According to statistics, males between 18 and 24 years of age are most likely to have been drinking before the crash. Also, male drivers are much more likely to have consumed alcohol prior to a collision compared to female drivers.
• Warmer weather months (May to October) experience the highest number of casualty collisions involving alcohol.
• The most casualty collisions involving alcohol occur on the weekends.
• The most likely time period for these collisions, on any day of the week, is between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
• Drinking and driving collisions are often associated with long weekends.

Over the last five years the following administrative suspensions for drinking and driving have been initiated:

• 42,762 Immediate 24 Hour Suspensions
• 6,123 Alberta Zero Alcohol Tolerance (AZAT) Suspensions
• 34,852 Alberta Administrative Licence Suspensions (AALS)

Existing Drinking and Driving Laws in Alberta