Suspending licenses immediately may reduce DUIs

Automatically suspending the licenses of people charged with impaired driving is helping reduce the number of drunk drivers on the province’s roads, according to a study completed for the Alberta government.The study shows that there was a 24% drop in the number of repeat impaired drivers and a 19% reduction in the number of repeat offenders involved in alcohol-related collisions that cause injury or death.The study also found there was a drop in the percentage of fatal collisions that involved drinking drivers, from 23% before the license suspension program came into effect to 19% afterward. “The results show that having tougher consequences that are swift, certain and severe, helps change the behavior of drivers who might otherwise continually drink and drive,” Dr. Lyle Oberg, Minister of Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation, says. Other highlights of the study include: a 6% reduction in the number of casualty collisions involving alcohol; a 12% reduction in the number of fatal collisions involving alcohol; and, a 7% reduction in the number of night-time casualty collisions involving alcohol.The Alberta Administrative Licence Suspension program came into effect on December 1, 1999. Under the program, drivers who are charged with alcohol-related offences automatically receive a three-month license suspension, whether or not they are convicted. The suspension is extended to six months if the offence results in injury or death. A court may impose an additional suspension upon conviction.Government contracted Howard Research and Management Consulting to conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the program in changing the incidence of impaired driving behavior and alcohol-related collisions. The study compared the three-year period before the program came into effect with the three-year period immediately following.