Front-line police officers’ practices, perceptions and attitudes about the enforcement of impaired driving laws in Canada

Accident Analysis and Prevention 31 (1999) 421 – 443 www.elsevier.com/locate/aap

Front-line police officers’ practices, perceptions and attitudes about the enforcement of impaired driving laws in Canada Brian Jonah *, Linda Yuen, Elaine Au-Yeung, Diana Paterson, Nancy Dawson, Rachel Thiessen, Hans Arora Road Safety Directorate, Transport Canada, Place de Ville, Tower C, 330 Sparks Street, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0N5, Canada Received 12 August 1998; received in revised form 10 November 1998; accepted 7 December 1998

Abstract A survey of front line police officers’ practices, perceptions and attitudes regarding detection of impaired driving, processing of driving while impaired (DWI) charges, criminal court proceedings and DWI sanctions was conducted across Canada. A sample of 1545 officers of all jurisdictions across the country, representative of different types of police services (i.e. national, provincial, municipal) and types of policing (i.e. traffic, general duty) were surveyed by mail. The results, based on a 71% response rate, indicate that: an average of 7.5 charges/year are laid by officers resulting mainly from erratic driving; videotaping and mobile breath testing could improve efficiency of DWI enforcement; it takes an average of 2 h 48 min to process each DWI charge; about 2/3 of officers say plea bargaining occurs at least sometimes; the average length of DWI trial is over 4 h; less than half of officers think Crown Attorneys are adequately prepared for DWI cases; about 3/4 of officers think the accused escapes conviction on a legal technicality at least sometimes; about 30% of officers say short-term licence suspensions and other forms of discretion are used at least sometimes; DWI places fifth in priority among 15 offences, up from eighth in a 1981 survey; DWI is a priority for most police management but human resources are not adequate; and there is greater support for administrative than for Criminal Code changes. Multiple regressions indicated that the number of DWI charges laid by officers depended mainly on the officers’ personal priority regarding DWI enforcement. The results suggest that many officers want to enforce DWI laws but that the numerous procedural and legal barriers that they confront often force them to exercise discretion in the laying of DWI charges. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Driving laws; Police officers; Criminal code

1. Introduction In Canada during the 1980s, considerable progress was achieved in reducing driving while impaired (DWI) through enforcement and public education programs. This resulted in the percentage of fatally injured drivers with blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) above the legal limit (80 mg%) declining 30% between 1980 and 1990 (Mayhew et al., 1997). At the same time, public opinion has changed such that the majority of Canadians consider impaired driving (BAC \ 80 mg%) to be a serious problem that is socially unacceptable, and believe that it ought to be dealt with severely by the courts (Health Canada, 1992, 1997). * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-613-998-1968; fax: + 1-613-9902913. E-mail address: [email protected] (B. Jonah)

Beginning in the early 1990’s, the percentage of fatally injured drivers who had been drinking prior to the collision started to rise again but has leveled off since 1994 (Mayhew et al., 1997). Between 1986 and 1996, impaired driving charges per 100 000 population in Canada declined by 47% (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 1997), suggesting that the increase in impaired driving may be attributable, at least in part, to reduced enforcement activity. Moreover, there is anecdotal evidence that front-line police officers are experiencing difficulties with the enforcement of impaired driving laws due to the inordinate amount of time it takes to process a charge; the frequency with which the accused is acquitted of impaired charges on what appear to some people to be legal technicalities; and to the increasing demands on officers for other services. Further, the newspapers are replete with reports of

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alleged impaired drivers whose lawyers plea bargain charges to lesser offences. Concern is also expressed about the inadequate penalties that are given to convicted impaired drivers. However, there have been recent court decisions resulting in jail sentences of 7 or more years, for multiple offence impaired drivers, and this may be indicative of a new trend. In 1981, Vingilis et al. (1984) conducted a study of police officers in Ontario, in one of the few studies focused on how police officers view DWI enforcement. The study identified a number of problems that police encountered with the enforcement of impaired driving laws, as written in the legislation at that time. The problems included lack of human resources, lack of breath testing equipment, length of time to process a charge, length of time in court and excessive paperwork. Failure to photograph and fingerprint drivers charged with impaired driving was cited as a major reason why drivers were not being sentenced as repeat offenders (i.e. the Crown could not prove the accused was same person previously convicted for impaired driving). In the same study, among a list of 15 criminal and traffic offences, impaired driving was ranked eighth in priority for officers’ time. Since the 1981 Vingilis et al. (1984) study, the legal system, as it pertains to impaired driving, has become considerably more complicated in Canada. In 1985, amendments to the original (1969) breathalyzer sections of the Criminal Code of Canada (CCC) created new offences resulting in jail terms of up to 14 years and 10 years for drivers convicted of impaired driving causing death or bodily harm, respectively. Consequently, the stakes are now higher for drivers charged with these offences, resulting in greater efforts on the part of defence Attorneys to cast doubt on the Crown’s evidence. Furthermore, with the passage of The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, the judiciary and defence lawyers are much more vigilant in protecting the rights of the accused. The case law that has accumulated over the intervening 16 years in impaired driving cases appears to have made it more difficult for Crown Attorneys to obtain impaired driving convictions. This difficulty has resulted in changes to police procedures to prevent the accused from being acquitted on a legal technicality, but these changes have increased the time burden on officers for laying impaired driving charges. In addition, the community approach to policing has become the dominant philosophy within police services in Canada, whereby the police and their communities collaborate in the identification and resolution of social order/public safety concerns. This approach, which is supported by front-line generalist officers, has often led to the elimination of traffic enforcement divisions and may be leading to a reduction in focus on DWI enforcement, assuming that the traffic officers are more involved in DWI enforcement than are generalists.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), recognizing the possibility of problems with DWI enforcement, approached Transport Canada to collaborate on a survey of police officers regarding their perceptions of and attitudes toward impaired driving law enforcement. A national survey of front-line police officers was designed to identify current problems with enforcing impaired driving laws, the reasons for these problems, and potential solutions that might be implemented to resolve them.

2. Methodology

2.1. Sur6ey sample The most efficient method of obtaining information from police officers about enforcing the impaired driving laws was to carry out a mail survey. While mail surveys often suffer from a poor response rate, and the potential for a biased response, Vingilis et al.’s experience in Ontario indicated that a 2/3 response rate could reasonably be expected. A multi-stage stratified sampling strategy was adopted. The first strata was province/territory and then within each province/territory, a number of police service locations representing four sizes were selected (i.e. B 51 officers, 51–100, 101–500 and \ 500 for all jurisdictions, with the exception of Ontario where the largest category was split into 501–2000 and \2000, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories which only had one strata B 51). A police service location was defined as either a municipal service (e.g. Metro Toronto Police), a provincial police detachment (e.g. Haileybury detachment of Ontario Provincial Police), or a detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, RCMP (e.g. Prince George detachment). Services with fewer than ten officers were excluded from the sampling frame because it would have been difficult to draw an anonymous sample. A list of the 660 police service locations represented within the CACP was obtained. These services include about 90% of Canada’s police officers. Within each province/territory, there was a random selection of police service locations from each size stratum, with the number of police service locations selected being proportional to the total number in the province/territory. This method ensured the inclusion of both large metropolitan police services, and smaller municipal services, as well as provincial police and RCMP which provide service for more rural communities. The RCMP provides province-wide policing on contract for all but two provinces which have their own provincial police service. The chiefs of police/detachment heads of the service locations selected (N= 175) were requested in writing

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

to provide a list of the names and work addresses of their front-line police officers. In the case of services with 100 or fewer officers, the names of all front-line officers were requested, while for larger services, at least 20% of the names were requested. Front-line officers were considered to be traffic officers and those officers who perform the generalist patrol function, as well as breath test technicians. Supervisors and officers performing administrative functions were to be excluded from the lists. Lists of front-line officers were obtained from 166 service locations representing a 95% response rate. In some cases, where not enough names were provided, follow-up requests for additional names were made. Once the sampling frame of officers was compiled by jurisdiction, a random sample of 2311 officers was drawn, proportional to the number of officers working at a service location. These officers were sent questionnaires for completion in the workplace. The questionnaires (in English and French) were sent to the police chiefs/detachment heads in sealed envelopes with instructions for their distribution to the specific front-line officers selected. Officers were assured that their responses would remain anonymous. After completing the 30 min questionnaire, each officer returned the questionnaire directly to the contractor hired for the data collection (Goldfarb Consultants). The contractor then key-entered the responses, created the database and tabulated the data.

2.2. Sur6ey questionnaire The major issues in DWI enforcement were determined by an initial discussion held with municipal, provincial and RCMP officers in the Ottawa area. A draft questionnaire was then developed, and pre-tested in focus groups with police officers from the Metro Toronto Police Service (i.e. a large service), the Woodstock (Ontario) Police Service (i.e. a small service), and the Montreal Urban Community Police Service (i.e. a large French-speaking service). During the focus groups, from 10 to 14 front line officers first completed the draft questionnaire and then participated in a discussion about the clarity of the questions and whether there were other questions that should be included in the questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed to gather the following information: “ DWI detection (i.e. number of DWI arrests, method of detection, behavioural signs used to determine suspicion of drinking, videotaping of suspected impaired drivers); “ breath testing (i.e. problems using roadside screening test results as evidence, adequacy of breath testing equipment);

“ “

“

“ “

“

“

423

use of discretion by police officers (i.e. use of shortterm licence suspensions, taking away car keys, etc.); processing of charges (i.e. time to process charges, forms completed, photographs and fingerprints of accused); court process (i.e. pleas entered by accused, use of plea bargaining, adequacy of preparation of Crown Attorneys, time for DWI cases to clear court, number of court appearances, time spent testifying, weight given by judges to the evidence provided by police officers and defence experts); disposition of charges (i.e. percentage of charges resulting in a DWI conviction); priority of DWI (i.e. importance of DWI enforcement relative to other offences, management’s and officers’ priority assigned to DWI, adequacy of resources); agreement with measures to deter DWI such as administrative licence suspension, vehicle impoundment, rehabilitation/treatment for offenders, longer licence suspensions; officer characteristics (i.e. traffic division versus general duty, breath technician, experience, training, gender and age, type of police service-municipal, provincial, RCMP) were also collected at the end of the questionnaire.

2.3. Data analyses Analyses were conducted on the data file (formatted for the Statistical Package for Social Sciences) received from Goldfarb Consultants. The data were analyzed to determine how the responses varied by: type of police service (i.e. municipal, provincial, RCMP); type of police work (i.e. dedicated to traffic enforcement or general duty); population size of the community served by the officer (i.e. B10 000; 10 000–99 999; 100 000– 499 999; ] 500 000) and age category of the police officer (i.e. 5 30, 31 to 40, ] 41). Testing for significant differences on discrete variables was conducted using x 2 tests, while continuous measures, rankings and ratings were analyzed using one-way analyses of variance. Missing values were not included in the analyses. All results are presented in the tables of this report, but only those differences that are significant at the PB 0.05 level are referred to in Section 3.

2.4. Response rate Of the 2311 questionnaires distributed, responses were received from 1629 officers, yielding a response rate of 70.5%, a highly acceptable return rate for a mail survey. However, a number of these responses were excluded from the analyses: 66 (4.5%) responses from officers indicating that in their line of work, they do not

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deal with impaired drivers, and 18 (1.1%) responses that arrived too late to be included in the database. Excluding these questionnaires left a final sample size of 1545 officers. Further reductions to the sample size resulted in cases where officers had not laid any impaired driving charges in the last 12 months (N= 123), or they were full time breath technicians (N =21); in these cases survey respondents were asked to skip over sections of the questionnaire that were not relevant to them (e.g. the detection of impaired drivers).

2.5. Characteristics of the sample Overall, 48% of officers in the sample serve communities with populations of 100 000 or greater. About 60% of the officers work for a municipal police service, while about 17 and 26% work for provincial and RCMP services, respectively. Overall, about 14% of the officers are dedicated to full time traffic duties versus general police duties and about 44% indicated that they are breath technicians, although not necessarily full time. The average age of officers in the survey was about 35 years, with about 60% of respondents being under 36 years of age. In terms of experience as a police officer, about 47% of the officers in the survey had more than 10 years experience, with 12 years as an overall average for the sample. When asked to specify the extent of training on DWI received over their career, the average was 62 h.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Detection of impaired dri6ers 3.1.1. Number and source of DWI charges Nationally, there were, on average, 7.5 DWI charges laid by each front-line police officer during the previous 12 months, as shown in Table 1. Officers laid significantly more charges if they were part of a traffic division than if they were performing general duties and if they were 40 years of age or younger. DWI charges were most likely to result from the observation of erratic driving on the part of the accused (47.6%), followed by involvement in a traffic collision (21.4%), public complaints (15.1%) and spot checks such as RIDE/Checkstop/Counter Attack (10.8%). Municipal police officers were more likely to lay charges as a result of a traffic collision than other officers, provincial officers were more likely to charge as a result of spot checks, while RCMP officers reported more charges resulting from public complaints. Traffic officers were more likely than general duty officers to lay charges for impaired driving as a result of a traffic collision or a spot check, whereas the

general duty officers were more likely to report laying charges as a result of observing erratic driving behaviour and public complaints. Charges resulting from collisions were more likely in larger communities than in smaller ones but erratic behaviour and public complaints were less likely sources of charges in communities over 500 000 in population.

3.1.2. Dri6er actions indicati6e of DWI The police officers were asked to rate the usefulness of a number of driver actions as indicators that a driver may be impaired. As can be seen in Table 1, the most useful behaviours were ‘vehicle weaving’, ‘straddling two lanes’, ‘driving too slow’, ‘erratic speed’ and ‘running over the curb’, all considered ‘fairly’ or ‘very useful’ by 90% or more of the officers. Surprisingly, the least useful behaviour was considered to be ‘non-use of seat belts’ (13.7%). Usefulness of some behaviours varied with type of police force with ‘non-use of seat belts’ being perceived as more useful by RCMP officers, ‘running a red light’ more useful among municipal police officers, and ‘driving without headlights at night’ being more useful among RCMP officers. ‘Speeding’ was a more useful indicator for dedicated traffic officers as was ‘failure to obey traffic signs’, and ‘driving with the window open in cold weather’. ‘Driving without headlights on at night’ was considered more revealing among officers from smaller communities while ‘driving with the window open in cold weather’ was more indicative of impairment in the largest communities. ‘Speeding’, ‘erratic speed’ and ‘running over a curb’ were less useful for officers 30 and under but ‘driving with the window open in cold weather’ was more useful for officers 40 or younger. Officers were asked which two major signs they use once they have pulled over a driver to determine whether there is reasonable suspicion to demand a breath sample on the roadside screening test. The signs most frequently mentioned were ‘smell of alcohol’ (83.0%), ‘admission of drinking by the driver’ (38.8%), and ‘slurred speech’ (28.2%). The use of ‘smell of alcohol’ was reported more by provincial police officers, ‘loss of balance’ was mentioned more often by municipal officers and ‘admission of drinking by the driver’ was offered least often by municipal officers. Traffic officers used ‘admission of drinking by the driver’ and ‘smell of alcohol’ more than did general duty officers who were more likely to rely on ‘slurred speech’. The only effect of community size was on ‘fumbling to get out licence’ with officers from smaller communities reporting the use of this sign more often. Younger officers were more likely to depend on ‘smell of alcohol’ and ‘admission of drinking by the driver’ than were the older officers.

Table 1 Detection of impaired drivers Total

Type of service Municipal

RCMP

Community size

Traffic

B10 000

General

10 000 –99 999

Age of officer 100 000 –499 999

]500 000

530

31–40

41+

8.7e

8.5e

5.7e

7.5

7.8

8.1

8.1

11.7e

7.0e

7.5

8.4

7.3

8.4

Source of charge b Traffic collisions Erratic driving Spot checks Public complaint

21.4 47.6 10.8 15.1

27.8 46.0 10.4 12.3

16.0e 46.8 19.9e 11.6e

16.1e 46.9 9.9e 20.1e

28.1e 34.3e 28.9e 11.4e

22.2e 49.1e 9.4e 14.8e

18.2e 48.3e 11.1 17.1e

22.0e 47.3e 11.8 13.8e

23.1e 48.7e 11.2 13.3e

29.8e 40.9e 12.1 12.6e

22.3 46.8 11.1 13.5

22.7 46.7 11.9 14.3

25.5 45.2 10.8 14.4

Dri6ing beha6iors c Non-use of seat belt Speeding Erratic speed Running red light Failure to obey traffic signs No headlights on at night Window open in cold weather Running over curb

13.7 74.7 90.5 80.2 88.4 86.3 56.7 90.0

11.0e 76.3 93.0 86.5e 89.5 85.5e 61.6 92.9

13.4e 71.2 96.1 79.0e 90.7 87.2e 58.3 91.5

18.0e 74.5 93.3 80.6e 90.7 91.2e 55.5 94.7

12.5 75.8e 94.2 80.5 87.3e 88.6 67.0e 94.8

13.2 75.2e 93.3 84.9 90.5e 86.9 57.7e 92.9

11.7 74.8 94.2 82.0 90.0 88.2e 59.0e 94.0

15.7 74.1 92.8 82.5 87.1 88.3e 53.8e 93.1

15.0 75.0 94.7 86.7 92.8 87.4e 57.9e 95.2

9.9 77.3 91.9 85.0 89.3 85.5e 66.4e 90.8

10.7 73.3e 91.9e 85.3 89.3 88.4 61.4e 90.3e

12.0 76.3e 93.8e 85.5 91.1 88.7 60.9e 94.8e

18.6 74.9e 94.8e 80.0 88.5 81.7 53.8e 92.8e

28.2 83.0 11.7 9.9 38.8

25.3 73.8e 9.7 11.0e 33.3e

20.1 84.8e 12.3 5.4e 42.6e

27.8 74.1e 10.2 5.6e 42.8e

19.1e 81.2e 8.7 6.9 52.0e

26.7e 74.0e 10.4 9.4 33.6e

24.6 75.9 11.2e 7.9 37.6

26.0 76.0 13.6e 8.7 32.7

28.5 75.0 10.1e 9.0 37.2

22.9 74.7 6.2e 10.0 39.1

26.6 78.7e 8.6 7.4 41.1e

23.9 77.9e 9.8 8.7 38.9e

26.2 66.4e 12.7 11.6 27.5e

Major signs d Slurred speech Smell of alcohol Fumbling to get out license Loss of balance Admission of drinking by driver

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

Number of charges a

Provincial

Type of police work

a

Mean number of charges. Mean percentages. c Percentages who said ‘fairly’ or ‘very useful’. d Percentages of officers who use major signs. e Differences were significant at PB0.05. b

425

426

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

3.1.3. Problems with and impro6ements in DWI detection procedures Nationally, 76.5% of officers considered that their police services’ breath test equipment provides for ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ efficient processing of DWI charges (Table 2). This view was most prevalent among municipal police officers and those working in communities larger than 500 000. Nationally, 43.6% of officers agreed that the evidentiary breath test takes too long, with greatest agreement among RCMP officers, those performing general duties, and those working in smaller communities. Currently, only about 14% of officers across the country indicated that they videotape suspected impaired drivers, with this practice being most common within the RCMP and among traffic officers. About two-thirds of officers felt that the use of videotaping would increase the chances of guilty pleas ‘a great deal’, particularly among officers with provincial police services or the RCMP, and among older officers. About 63% of the respondents thought that the use of mobile evidentiary breath tests would increase the effectiveness of DWI enforcement, especially among RCMP and provincial officers. However, only about a third of the officers considered such mobile testing units to be ‘quite feasible’. Feasibility was lower among general duty officers and among those who were younger. About three-quarters of officers use a level of blood alcohol concentration of 100 mg% or higher as the threshold above which Criminal Code charges are laid (legal limit is 80 mg% in Canada). Municipal officers and those in traffic tended to use a more stringent criterion for laying charges, although the differences are not large.

under the Criminal Code were: takes too much time to process Criminal Code impaired driving charges (38.1%), inadequate number of personnel to process impaired driving charges (36.7%), and the short-term suspension gets the driver off the road (35.2%). Provincial police officers were less likely to say that charging takes too much time, the driver will plea bargain, or lack of resources. Traffic officers were more likely to say they use short-term suspensions because charging takes too much time, it gets the driver off the road and there are inadequate resources for DWI enforcement. Officers serving larger communities were more likely to say charging takes too much time and the driver is likely to get off DWI charges. Officers 40 years of age and over were more likely to say that the driver gets off DWI charges. All officers were asked whether they ever used other forms of discretion apart from short-term licence suspensions. Nationally, about 29% said that they personally use discretion ‘sometimes’ (23%) or ‘frequently’ (6%) in dealing with impaired drivers. Discretion was more common among municipal officers, those doing general duties, and those serving larger communities. Among those using discretion, the most frequent discretionary action taken by officers was to arrange a ride or taxi for the driver (74.1%) or to get a sober passenger to take over the wheel (66.3%). Arranging a ride or taxi was more often reported by municipal police officers, while driving the person home was more common among RCMP officers. General duty officers more often gave a verbal warning or drove the person home than did traffic officers. Officers in smaller communities were more likely than officers in larger communities to drive the person home.

3.1.4. Use of discretion by officers All Canadian jurisdictions, with the exception of Quebec and Nova Scotia, have sections within their highway traffic legislation permitting police officers to suspend a driver’s licence for periods of time up to 24 h if the drivers blood alcohol concentration is in the range of 40 to 60 mg%, depending on the jurisdiction. Among officers in those jurisdictions with short-term licence suspensions, about 30% said that drivers with BAC’s over the legal limit (80 mg%) are ‘sometimes’ (22%) or ‘frequently’ (8%) given a short-term suspension rather than charged for impaired driving under the Criminal Code (Table 3). This practice is more common among traffic officers. Only about 18% of officers reported that they had personally given a short-term suspension instead of laying a criminal charge, either sometimes (13.5%) or frequently (4.0%). RCMP officers were more likely to report such personal action than officers in other services. The reasons given for using a short-term suspension rather than charging the suspected impaired drivers

3.1.5. Discussion Although it is not possible to compare the number of charges reported by officers with those appearing in official records, nevertheless, it would appear that 7.5 charges per officer per year is a relatively small number, representing about 0.63 charges per month. Put another way, officers report laying a DWI charge on average about once every 7 weeks. The results on the sources of charges suggest that most officers wait until impaired drivers draw attention to themselves, either through their erratic driving behaviour or to a lesser extent through collision involvement or relying on the public to draw the attention of police officers to an impaired driver through a complaint. Relatively few charges result from focused DWI enforcement campaigns such as RIDE/Checkstop/ Counter Attack. The observed differences between general duty and traffic officers are fully consistent with the type of work performed by these two groups of officers (i.e. traffic officers are more likely to conduct spot checks).

68.2e

65.8e

37.4

63.2

32.6

b

38.8

50.0e 3.8e 75.6e

35.3e 9.9e 62.2e

39.7

77.3e

64.8e 22.4e 74.2e 69.5

36.2e

46.4e

46.4e 9.8e 67.1e

77.8

66.9

37.7e 22.9e 66.5e

79.1

43.6 13.6 65.0

65.6e

83.3e

81.8e

76.5

Percentage saying ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’. Percentage saying ‘fairly efficient’ or ‘very efficient’. c Percentage saying ‘yes’. d Percentage saying ‘a great deal’. e Percentage saying ‘quite feasible’. f Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

Breath test equipment provides efficient processing of DWI chargesa Evidentiary test takes too longb Currently videotape suspectc Videotaping would increase guilty pleasd Mobile evidentiary tests would increase effectiveness of DWI enforcementc Mobile evidentiary tests are quite feasiblee

General

Traffic

Provincial

Municipal

RCMP

Type of police work

Type of service

Total

Table 2 Problems with and improvements in DWI detection

]500 000

35.7

65.1

51.2e 11.1 69.6e

76.1e

36.4

70.2

50.0e 12.5 65.5e

76.8e

35.9

71.6

46.4e 10.1 67.3e

75.9e

43.6

69.5

32.5e 15.2 65.3e

82.6e

33.8e

67.4

47.6 9.2 61.2e

73.6

35.8e

69.1

42.9 12.7 68.4e

79.0

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

48.1f

69.9

45.4 14.9 70.6f

81.8

41+

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443 427

Total

74.1 66.3 37.7

79.4e 66.5 30.5e

b

Percentage saying ‘yes’. Percentage saying ‘sometimes’ or ‘frequently’. c All values are percentages. d Percentage of officers taking the action. e Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

Actions taken Arrange taxi/rided Sober passenger drived Drive driver homed 65.7e 62.9 37.1e

66.5e 70.9 49.5e 73.9 63.1 27.4e

23.4e

26.2e

Use of discretion in dealing with impaired dri6ers Frequency of use of discretionb 28.2 41.4e 9.2e

48.1 41.9e 33.1e

51.6e

Reasons for use of short term licence suspension instead of criminal charges Charges take too much timec 38.1 47.2e 26.9e 47.2e 35.2 42.3 26.9 40.0 Gets driver off road3 Inadequate human resourcesc 36.7 41.8e 20.9e 47.7e

20.0e

41.2e

40.3 40.8e

36.0

44.4

75.5 67.6 36.3e

35.9e

44.3 39.5e 43.9e

42.6e

39.7e

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

51.2e

Use of short term licence suspension Use instead of charges under 29.7 CCa Personally used short term sus17.5 pension instead of criminal chargeb

Table 3 Use of discretion by police officers

]500 000

70.0 69.5 45.3e

30.5e

41.9e 34.4e 42.5

43.3

35.1

79.7 65.8 38.6e

31.0e

37.0e 41.6e 37.7

38.1

43.8

73.7 66.5 31.4e

34.9e

50.6e 39.4e 47.1

44.6

46.3

77.2 65.5 27.0e

37.7e

49.2e 43.2e 37.3

41.9

44.1

75.4 69.1 33.1

39.0

48.6 41.0e 42.2

42.0

46.4

74.9 65.1 34.9

31.7

44.4 39.0e 43.0

41.8

42.0

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

75.5 68.5 37.0

31.0

43.6 40.7e 36.4

42.4

37.2

41+

428 B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

Officers appear to use fairly gross driver errors such as vehicle weaving, straddling the lanes, erratic speed, and running over the curb to detect impaired drivers. Seat belt non-use was considered to be the least useful indicator even though night-time drinking and driving surveys (Mayhew et al., 1996) have consistently demonstrated a negative relationship between impaired driving and use of belts for years (i.e. seat belt non-users are more likely to be impaired drivers). It would appear that either this relationship has not been getting out to front-line officers or they do not accept it as valid. It would be worthwhile exploring the reasons why officers do not consider seat belt non-use to be a useful indicator of impairment. Once the suspected driver is stopped, it would appear that officers use quite obvious indicators of drinking such as smell, admission of drinking by the driver and slurred speech. It may be necessary to provide officers with training regarding other more subtle signs of impairment that could be used to detect those impaired drivers who may be better able to hide their impairment (e.g. flushed face, fumbling to get out licence). Over three-quarters of officers considered their service’s breath testing equipment to be at least fairly efficient while 44% of officers thought that the evidentiary breath tests take too long. These results suggest that while most officers feel that the equipment is efficient, many also consider the human resources available to operate the equipment to be inadequate, therefore resulting in a longer time for processing charges. Although relatively few police services in Canada use videotaping of DWI suspects, two-thirds of officers felt that such a practice would increase guilty pleas and hence improve efficiency which is consistent with a survey conducted by Pavic et al. (1997). Similarly, almost two-thirds of officers thought that mobile evidentiary breath test units would increase DWI enforcement effectiveness, although only a third thought mobile testing was feasible. Given these results, the use of videotaping and mobile testing should be further explored by police services as potential methods of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of DWI enforcement, including a determination of why most officers believe that mobile testing would not be feasible and how its feasibility could be enhanced. About three-quarters of officers charge suspects with DWI only when their BAC is above 100 mg%, which is 20 mg% over the legal limit. Given the error in the measurement of the breath testing instruments, part of this tolerance on charging suspects likely reflects a desire to ensure that the BAC reading will not be challenged in court (i.e. defence argues that reading of 85 mg% could be 75 or 95 mg%). It may also be that officers are exercising discretion and not charging drivers who are, in their view, only moderately impaired.

429

Just under a third of respondents say that short-term licence suspensions are issued by officers in their service location at least sometimes instead of laying criminal charges and 19% say that they have sometimes used them personally. Furthermore, almost 30% of officers reported that they use other forms of discretion such as arranging for a ride or a taxi for the driver or getting a sober passenger to drive. However, some officers may be taking these actions in addition to laying charges under the Criminal Code.

3.2. Processing of DWI charges by officers 3.2.1. Time to process DWI charges The officers were asked to estimate how much time, on average, each step of laying an impaired driving charge takes to complete. Overall, it requires and average of 168 min (2 h 48 min) to process a charge (Table 4). The most time consuming steps are completing the required forms and reports (average of 54.5 min) and the completion of both evidentiary breath tests (average of 37.4 min, including the 20 min required interval between tests). These two activities account for about 55% of the total time required to process a DWI charge. About half of the officers agreed that if it took less time to process DWI charges, then they would lay more of them. Officers who were 30 years of age and under shared this view to a greater extent than older officers. 3.2.2. Completion of DWI charge forms On average, officers complete 8.2 forms or reports for each DWI charge (Table 5). It should be noted that these forms relate only to the laying of the DWI charge and they do not include those forms required for repeat offenders or for reporting collisions. RCMP officers and those dedicated to traffic reported completing more reports than did other officers. About a third of officers believe that cases are dismissed in court ‘sometimes’ (27.6%) or ‘frequently’ (3.1%) because forms have not been completed correctly, particularly in communities over 100 000 and among older officers. Over a third of officers (38%) felt that most (29.5%) or all (8.5%) of the forms could be simplified, particularly among provincial police. Just under two-thirds of officers (64.2%) reported that they ‘always’ fingerprint and photograph the accused. RCMP and traffic officers were more likely to say that they always photograph and fingerprint accused impaired drivers. This practice was less common in communities with a population of between 100 000 and 499 000. 3.2.3. Discussion It takes an investigating officer on average 2 h 48 min to process a DWI charge with paperwork and the

65.3c 1.2c 10.2c 9.4c 3.2c

59.7c 3.3c 5.5c 5.0c 2.5c

54.5 2.4 7.3 6.6 2.7

60.7

b

Average time in minutes. Percentage saying ‘yes’. c Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

50.1

35.7c

34.5c

37.4

Lay more charges if took less timeb

6.9c 7.0c

13.5c 7.5c

9.3 6.7

53.8

184.7c

18.6c

22.0c

20.0

172.7c

18.0c

11.1c

13.1

168.1

7.0c

6.0c

57.6

167.8c

1.1c 8.8c 9.9c 4.1c

50.3c

38.7c

3.9c 6.1c

20.3c

15.9c

7.0c

62.9

195.2c

5.2c 8.5c 7.5 3.5

66.8c

33.1c

14.7c 6.6

26.3c

14.7c

6.4

58.1

168.1c

1.9c 6.5c 6.7 2.9

56.3c

36.3c

9.2c 7.2

20.0c

12.8c

6.3

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

6.2

Total

Average total time takena

Time to process DWI charges Determining cause for evidentiary testa Transporting suspect to stationa Waiting for lawyer/legal aida Waiting for translatora Waiting for breath techniciana Completing both evidentiary breath testsa Completing required forms/reportsa Waiting for computera Making photocopiesa Fingerprinting accuseda Photographing accuseda

Table 4 Time to process DWI charges

]500 000

56.3

162.1c

1.7 7.3 8.1c 3.3

51.0c

37.5c

5.3c 6.2c

19.4c

14.4c

6.6

58.1

167.7c

3.1 6.4 6.5c 2.5

56.6c

37.8c

8.5c 6.6c

19.7c

12.3c

6.4

58.3

177.5c

2.3 7.0 6.5c 3.3

60.6c

35.3c

11.4c 7.8c

21.6c

13.2c

6.0

63.1

184.8c

2.9 6.9 6.1c 2.8

64.8c

32.4c

15.2c 7.7c

23.7c

12.8c

6.4

66.7

c

169.4

1.8 6.3 7.3c 2.8

61.3

35.1

9.1 7.4

18.5c

12.4c

6.2

56.5

c

172.4

2.4 7.4 7.1c 3.1

56.1

35.8

10.7 7.1

21.6c

13.4c

6.2

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

55.6c

177.2

2.7 6.4 5.6c 2.8

59.2

36.3

9.8 6.5

23.0c

13.7c

6.9

41+

430 B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

Total

32.1e 90.9e

47.7e 57.4e

b

Mean number of forms completed. Percentage saying ‘sometimes’ or ‘frequently’. c Percentage of ‘most’ or ‘all’ forms. d Percentage who ‘always’ fingerprint and photograph accused. e Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

9.1e 36.6

8.6e 35.9

75.6e

42.6

8.8e 40.1

67.9e

40.8

8.1e 36.8

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

Completion of forms, fingerprinting and photographing 8.2 7.7e Number of forms completeda Cases dismissed in court because 30.7 38.1 forms not correctb Most or all forms could be 38.0 43.3e simplifiedc Accused is always fingerprinted 64.2 62.9e and photographedd

Table 5 Completion of DWI charge forms

]500 000

75.1e

36.0

8.4 34.3e

75.1e

36.0

8.2 31.5e

66.7e

41.2

8.0 42.4e

71.8e

45.4

8.3 41.4e

66.8

42.1

8.4 36.8

68.9

39.3

8.2 35.6

31–40

530 100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

72.2

44.1

7.9 42.3

41+

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443 431

432

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

breath tests consuming most of the time. It is evident that this time burden is a major deterrent to laying more charges since half of the officers agreed that if it took less time to process charges, then they would lay more of them. The fact that officers complete 8.2 forms for each case, underscores the need to streamline the paperwork associated with DWI cases. Yet only about 40% of officers felt that most or all of the forms could be simplified. Given that a third of officers believed that cases are dismissed because of errors in completing the forms, streamlining the paperwork would not only reduce the processing time but it would also reduce the chances of errors resulting in the Crown losing cases. Perhaps computerizing forms would provide one method of streamlining the process. The second major time consuming step in the charging process is the completion of the two evidentiary breath tests. However, given the legal requirement for two breath tests separated by 20 min. It is not apparent how this time could be reduced much further. Some police services are now using evidentiary breath tests that permit the technician to test more than one suspect at a time, which should result in greater efficiency of laying DWI charges. The fact that more than a third of officers do not always fingerprint and photograph accused impaired drivers continues to pose a problem in dealing with repeat offenders. In Ontario, 25% said that they do not always fingerprint and photograph which represents an improvement over 75% not always doing it in the 1981 Ontario survey by Vingilis et al. (1984). Nevertheless, there is still potential for repeat offenders to be considered as first offenders at the point of sentencing because it cannot be proven, in the absence of photographs and fingerprints, that the offender is the same person who was convicted of a criminal impaired driving offence in the past. There is an obvious need to ensure that photographing and fingerprinting become standard practice for all DWI cases.

3.3. Processing of DWI charges by courts 3.3.1. Entry of plea and plea bargaining Officers reported that in 62% of their cases in the last 12 months, the accused pleaded guilty to Criminal Code DWI charges (Table 6). Guilty pleas were less common for charges laid by municipal police officers, officers doing traffic duties, officers in larger communities and officers 30 and under. Very few accused DWI’s plead guilty to other Criminal Code offences (2.7%) or to highway traffic code offences (2.7%). About 20% pleaded not guilty to DWI charges and about 13% pleaded not guilty to all charges, including DWI. Pleading not guilty to all charges was reported more often by traffic officers, while pleading not guilty

to DWI or to all charges occurred more frequently in larger centres. Almost two-thirds (64.9%) of officers indicated that plea bargaining on impaired driving cases occurred ‘sometimes’ (28.2%) or ‘frequently’ (36.7%) in their jurisdiction (Table 6). Plea bargaining was reported more often by traffic officers and those officers serving communities over 100 000. Officers say that the major reason for plea bargaining is to speed up the court process (59.2%).

3.3.2. Length of court proceedings On average, officers reported making 1.7 appearances in court for each DWI charge (Table 7) with traffic officers reporting being in court more often per case than general duty officers. It takes about 15 weeks for a typical case to clear the court when the accused pleads guilty to impaired driving charges but about 35 weeks if the person pleads not guilty. The time to clear cases was reported to be shorter by RCMP officers, those serving smaller communities, and older officers. An average DWI trial takes 4.4 h with the investigating officer being on the witness stand an average of 33 min. Traffic officers reported being on the witness stand longer than did general duty officers, as did younger officers. 3.3.3. Officers’ perceptions of Crown Attorneys and judges Police officers were asked to indicate the extent to which they thought that Crown Attorneys (CAs) are prepared to prosecute impaired driving cases in court (Table 7). Only about 46% agreed that CAs are adequately prepared with traffic officers less likely than general duty officers to perceive CAs to be adequately prepared. About 80% of the officers who felt that CAs are not adequately prepared said that the reason is that CAs have too many cases to try and 62% said that the CAs do not read the case file before arriving at the court. Only about 18% said that the CAs are perceived by the officers as not really being interested in DWI cases. RCMP officers were more likely to say that CAs do not read the case before appearing in court but were less likely to say that the CAs have too many cases. Traffic officers were more likely to say that CAs are not interested in DWI cases. Having too many cases was cited as a reason slightly more often by officers from larger communities. Overall, 42% of officers felt that judges give equal credibility to the evidence provided by police officers and that provided by expert witnesses for the defence. However, 29% felt that judges give greater credibility to the evidence of expert witnesses for the defence. Traffic officers and officers serving communities of 500 000 inhabitants and larger were more likely to report a bias in favour of the defence witnesses.

61.8c 8.0c 22.1c

Main reasons for plea bargaining 59.2 Speed up processa Reduce costsa 6.9 Reduce sentencea 21.5 57.9c 8.5c 26.8c

76.6

63.0c 1.2c 2.6 20.6 13.3

61.3c 3.9c 22.6c

75.0

59.8c 3.7c 4.8 19.1 12.0

b

Average percentage. Percentage saying plea bargaining occurred ‘sometimes’ or ‘frequently’. c Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

75.9

64.9

Plea bargainingb

54.4c 3.5c 3.8 22.8 15.5

62.0 2.7 2.7 20.2 12.8

55.6 5.8 26.6

82.1c

49.4c 4.0 6.5c 21.5 18.6c

62.4 7.3 21.9

74.2c

58.7c 3.1 3.3c 21.5 13.4c

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

Plea entered Guilty of DWI in CCa Guilty of other offencea Guilty of HTA offencea Not guilty of DWIa Not guilty to all chargesa

Pleas in court and plea bar- Total gaining

Table 6 Pleas entered and plea bargaining

]500 000

59.7 8.5 22.3

71.1c

65.1 2.7 3.9 17.2c 11.0c

55.8 8.2 26.4

71.4c

57.7 3.6 3.2 22.7c 13.0c

67.3 5.6 19.5

80.2c

57.0 3.3 3.2 20.6c 15.8c

61.8 5.9 22.6

79.9c

48.2 3.5 5.1 25.7c 17.4c

61.5 7.9 5.7

75.2

53.1c 3.1 4.3 24.0 15.4

59.7 7.1 10.5

75.6

57.8c 3.3 4.0 20.6 14.3

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

64.5 5.7 9.4

76.4

60.0c 3.1 2.7 20.4 13.6

41+

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443 433

14.8g 38.3g

17.6g 39.4g 5.1 35.2

14.8 35.2 4.4 33.1

13.2 37.9 48.9

b

9.1 49.4 41.5

82.9g 24.4

84.7g 18.6

80.1 17.8

11.1 28.9 42.1

63.4g

59.6g

61.5

Mean number of court appearances. Average number of weeks. c Average time in hours. d Average time in minutes. e Percentage saying ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’. f All values are percentages. g Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

Judges gi6e more credibility to Police officerf Expert witness for defencef Both equallyf

Reasons not prepared Have not read case before arrivingf Have too many casesf Not really interested in DWI casesf

43.1

4.7 34.9

1.9

1.7

1.7

14.8 37.0 48.2

72.6g 19.4

75.0g

42.6

4.1 36.9

30.4g

12.2g

1.9

7.8g 51.5g 40.7g

80.3 35.6g

64.4

30.7g

4.9 44.4g

36.8

16.9

2.2g

14.3g 36.5g 49.2g

82.2 14.4g

63.6

47.4g

4.8 33.5g

37.0

15.5

1.7g

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

Officers’ perception of Crown Attorneys and judges Crown Attorneys adequately 45.7 45.1 prepared for casese

Length of court proceedings Number of court appearances per DWI casea Time for case to clear court if guilty pleab Time for case to clear court if not guilty pleab Average length of DWI trialc Average length of time on witness standd

Total

Table 7 Court proceedings in DWI charges

]500 000

15.1g 38.4g 46.6g

76.2g 18.0

63.9

47.7

4.7 35.7

32.5g

13.0g

1.9

13.0g 32.2g 54.8g

76.4g 19.5

70.7

46.7

4.4 33.6

35.9g

15.4g

1.7

11.5g 38.8g 49.7g

84.4g 22.7

57.0

45.6

4.4 35.3

38.0g

16.1g

1.8

12.5g 46.4g 41.1g

86.7g 18.8

64.2

37.8

5.5 37.4

41.1g

18.5g

1.8

13.7 40.4 45.9

78.9 17.2

60.9

45.1

5.1 37.3g

39.9g

18.0g

1.8

13.0 41.2 45.8

83.3 18.8

64.1

43.9

4.7 36.7g

37.2g

15.7g

1.9

314 0

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

12.3 33.7 54.0

80.7 23.5

63.9

44.7

4.8 30.8g

33.0g

13.4g

1.6

41+

434 B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

3.3.4. Disposition of DWI cases According to the survey respondents, about 83% of drivers who pleaded not guilty (33% of total charges) were convicted of DWI at trial (Table 8). Provincial police officers were somewhat more likely to say that the accused was acquitted and traffic officers reported fewer DWI convictions and more acquittals on all charges than general duty officers. Older officers reported more frequent convictions and fewer acquittals than younger officers. The survey respondents were asked how often they felt that impaired drivers escape conviction under the Criminal Code due to legal technicalities. Three quarters of officers felt that such escapes happen ‘sometimes’ (51%) or ‘frequently’ (24%), most often among traffic officers, those in larger communities and officers in the 30 and under age group. 3.3.5. Penalties for DWI offenders About 63% of the officers felt that the penalties meted out to convicted impaired drivers are too lenient, particularly provincial and traffic officers and those 40 years and under (Table 8). When asked to rank several possible penalties in terms of their effectiveness as a deterrent to DWI, the most highly ranked measure was a jail sentence, followed in ranking by a 1 year licence suspension. Having a criminal record, and mandatory rehabilitation were considered to be the least effective deterrents. Fines were ranked higher by RCMP officers as were 1 year suspensions. Vehicle seizure and impoundment was considered to be more effective among traffic officers. The perceived effectiveness of mandatory rehabilitation decreased with age. Having a criminal record was ranked lower by RCMP officers and those over 40. 3.3.6. Discussion Of the total number of impaired driving charges reported in the survey, 62% resulted in guilty pleas and another 27% resulted in conviction at trial, (83% conviction rate for the 33% who pleaded not guilty and went to trial). Therefore, almost 90% of impaired driving charges end up in guilty pleas or guilty verdicts in trials which indicates that the vast majority of DWIs are not getting away with impaired driving. Less than half of the officers feel that the CAs are adequately prepared to plead DWI cases and this was due primarily to the belief that since they have so many cases, CAs often do not review the case file until just before the case is heard. Such a lack of preparation may be resulting in the Crown losing cases which it could have won. About 30% of officers feel that judges give greater credibility to the expert witnesses for the defence than to the evidence of the investigating officer. This perceived lack of credibility of police officers relative to defence witnesses by some judges and the

435

perceived lack of preparation by CAs appears to be a source of frustration for front-line officers who painstakingly collect and provide the evidence for the case. This frustration may be leading to the use of discretion by some officers in dealing with impaired drivers in order to avoid court cases. Combining the time required to process a DWI charge and the time spent in court for actual trial, a DWI case requires an average of 7.2 h of an officer’s time, if it goes to trial. Generally, police officers believe that DWI offenders are treated too leniently by the courts.

3.4. Priority of DWI enforcement Survey respondents were asked to rate 15 criminal and traffic offences on a 7 point scale to indicate the priority that each should be given in terms of their time. Driving while impaired received a mean rating of 5.7 which was the fifth highest after murder, sexual assault, kidnapping and robbery (Table 9). The results also show that careless driving, speeding, and failure to wear seat belts received relatively low priorities by officers (9th, 11th and 15th, respectively). Priority assigned to DWI was lower among municipal officers, those doing general duties and younger officers. Ratings of the priority of seat belt enforcement were higher for provincial officers, those in traffic, and older officers. Speeding enforcement was rated as a higher priority among provincial officers, those in traffic, those in communities 500 000 and over and among officers over 40 years of age. These results show that traffic offences, including DWI, are considered to be a higher priority among provincial officers and among those officers dedicated to traffic enforcement. Officers were asked the extent to which they felt that their management considers DWI enforcement to be a priority within the policing function. Nationally, 41.1% said that they felt that it is ‘very much a priority’ for their management with another 48.1% saying that it is ‘somewhat of a priority’. DWI is perceived to be less of a priority for management by officers in municipal services, in larger communities and by those who are younger. About 58% of officers indicated that DWI enforcement was ‘very much a priority’ for them personally, with another 40% saying that it was ‘somewhat of a priority’. The officers’ priority for DWI enforcement is highest among municipal officers, traffic officers and those in smaller communities. Only 20% of officers felt that the human resources available in their police service to enforce DWI are ‘completely adequate’ with another 32% saying that they are ‘fairly adequate’. Perceived adequacy is somewhat higher for provincial officers, those in smaller communities, and those that are older.

3.8 2.6 3.2 4.6 2.1 4.7

62.8

82.9 3.0 3.0 9.3 75.1

3.9e 2.8e 3.0 4.6 2.1 4.7e

62.2e

80.3 3.6 4.0 10.7e 79.3

4.0e 2.8e 2.9 4.7 2.1 4.7e

80.6e

79.5 2.6 3.9 14.0e 82.6

3.7e 2.5e 2.9 4.6 2.1 5.0e

74.9e

78.8 4.7 5.3 9.0e 81.4

3.9 2.8 2.5e 4.6 2.2 4.9

77.3e

71.4e 3.6 7.0e 16.8e 89.2e

b

3.9 2.7 3.1e 4.6 2.1 4.7

62.3e

81.8e 3.7 3.7e 9.3e 78.3e

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

Average percentage of cases. Percentage saying ‘sometimes’ or ‘frequently’. c Percentage saying ‘too lenient’. d Average rank for each measure. The lower the number, the more effective the penalty. e Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

Effecti6eness of penalties Fined One year suspensiond Vehicle impoundmentd Mandatory rehabilitationd Jail sentenced Criminal recordd

Penalties for impaired dri6ing Penalties too lenientc

Disposition of DWI case Convicted of DWI under CCa Convicted of other CC offencea Convicted of HTA offencea Acquitted of all chargesa Frequency DWI’s escape con6iction on legal technicality b

Total

Table 8 Disposition of DWI cases and penalties

]500 000

3.8 2.6 3.0 4.6 2.1 4.8

64.6

80.2e 3.2 4.8 9.3e 78.5e

3.7 2.7 3.1 4.6 2.1 4.7

67.3

83.4e 4.2 3.3 7.9e 78.7e

3.9 2.8 3.0 4.5 2.0 4.8

66.5

81.4e 3.8 3.5 10.8e 80.7e

4.0 2.8 2.8 4.6 2.1 4.7

62.3

75.1e 3.9 5.5 14.2e 82.7e

3.9 2.7 3.1 4.8e 2.0 4.5e

65.3e

77.8e 3.5 5.6 11.2e 85.9e

3.9 2.7 2.9 4.5e 2.1 4.8e

67.0e

78.7e 3.8 3.9 11.96 77.1e

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

3.8 2.7 2.9 4.5e 2.2 5.0e

60.0e

85.4e 3.8 3.8 7.3e 80.2e

41+

436 B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

33.7e

44.4e

41.4

54.8e 71.1e 22.1e

5.5e 5.2e 4.7e 4.5e 4.4 3.9e 4.0e 3.3 3.5e 3.0e

5.3e 5.5e 4.5e 4.3e 4.3 3.5e 3.3e 3.3 3.1e 2.6e

5.4 5.4 4.7 4.4 4.3 3.6 3.6 3.3 3.3 2.7 enforcement 41.1 31.9e 57.7 49.2e 20.0 17.9e

6.2e 6.3e 6.0e 5.6e 5.9e

6.4e 6.4e 6.0e 6.0e 5.6e

45.7e

53.0e 61.9e 17.3e

5.4e 5.2e 5.1e 4.4e 4.3 3.5e 3.7e 3.4 3.3e 2.7e

6.7e 6.5e 6.5e 6.2e 5.8e

b

34.3e

38.8 66.7e 16.1

4.9e 5.1e 4.6 4.7e 4.2 4.2e 3.2e 3.4 3.5e 3.3e

6.3 6.2e 6.0 5.9 6.1e

45.3e

40.4 52.7e 18.9

5.4e 5.5e 4.7 4.3e 4.4 3.4e 3.5e 3.3 3.1e 2.6e

6.4 6.4e 6.1 6.0 5.6e

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

6.4 6.4 6.1 6.0 5.7

Total

Average rating on scale of 1–7 where 1 is low priority and 7 is high priority. Percentage saying ‘very much a priority’. c Percentage saying ‘quite adequate’. d Percentage saying ‘a great deal’. e Differences were significant at PB0.05.

a

Priority gi6en to impaired dri6ing Priority for managementb Priority for officerb Adequacy of human resources for DWI enforcementc Pressure to do other police activity limits DWI enforcementd

Priority placed on officer’s time Murdera Sexual assaulta Kidnappinga Robberya Driving while impaired by alcohola Assaulta Breaking and entrya Arsona Careless drivinga Receiving stolen goodsa Speedinga Possession of marijuanaa Forgerya Drinking while under agea Failing to wear seat belta

Table 9 DWI priority

]500 000

40.2

50.6e 58.3e 21.7e

5.3 5.3 4.9e 4.4 4.3 3.5e 3.7e 3.3 3.3 2.8e

6.5 6.4 6.2 6.0 5.8

40.9

39.0e 60.0e 19.9e

5.3 5.4 4.6e 4.4 4.5 3.6e 3.6e 3.3 3.2 2.6e

6.4 6.5 6.1 6.1 5.7

46.6

33.1e 54.4e 19.9e

5.4 5.4 4.6e 4.3 4.2 3.4e 3.3e 3.3 3.0 2.5e

6.4 6.4 6.1 6.0 5.6

45.5

36.8e 48.6e 14.9e

5.3 5.5 4.6e 4.4 4.4 3.8e 3.3e 3.4 3.2 2.8e

6.4 6.3 6.0 5.9 5.7

42.2e

34.6e 53.7 15.9e

5.3 5.5 4.8e 4.2 4.4 3.4e 3.8e 3.4 2.9e 2.5e

6.6e 6.5e 6.4e 6.0e 5.6e

44.2e

38.9e 54.8 17.1e

5.4 5.4 4.7e 4.4 4.3 3.5e 3.5e 3.3 3.2e 2.7e

6.5e 6.4e 6.2e 6.1e 5.7e

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

41.9e

48.9e 58.4 24.2e

5.3 5.3 4.4e 4.5 4.3 3.9e 3.2e 3.3 3.5e 3.0e

6.2e 6.2e 5.7e 5.8e 5.8e

41+ B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443 437

438

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

About 41% of officers said that the pressure to do other police activity limits their ability to enforce DWI laws ‘a great deal’. Provincial police and traffic officers were less likely to express this view.

3.4.1. Discussion Impaired driving was the fifth highest enforcement priority among the offences rated. Vingilis et al. (1984), using a ranking method found in 1981, that Ontario police officers ranked impaired driving eighth among the same offences used in the present study (a pre-test for the present study indicated that the same overall ranks were obtained regardless of whether they were based on average ranks or they were derived by ranking average ratings). The results of these two surveys taken together suggest that the priority given to impaired driving, at least by officers in Ontario, has increased in the past 16 years from eighth to fifth, jumping over breaking and entering, arson and assault. The priorities assigned to speeding and careless driving were ranked higher in Ontario in the current survey than they were in the earlier Ontario survey but seat belt use was still last. Although DWI is considered a high personal priority by most officers, many of them do not perceive it to be a high priority for their management. Furthermore, the human resources are considered to be less than adequate by many officers and as a result, it is difficult to do impaired driving enforcement given all the other activities that officers are expected to perform. 3.5. Officers’ attitudes toward DWI countermeasures Officers were asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement with a number of measures that are currently in use in Canada or could be used to deter impaired driving. These measures are categorized as Criminal Code changes, provincial/territorial changes, and training and education. Officers were asked whether they would agree with taking impaired driving offences out of the Criminal Code if there was either no collision involved or if there were no death or injuries associated with the offence. Only about 6% of officers agreed with taking DWI out of the Criminal Code in either of these conditions (Table 10), although there was slightly more agreement among traffic officers. Approximately 37% of officers agreed or agreed strongly with lowering the legal blood alcohol concentration limit from the current 80 to 50 mg%, with agreement being greatest among general duty officers. About 56% of the officers supported random breath testing whereby all drivers would be required to provide a breath sample regardless of suspicion of drinking. Two-thirds of officers agreed that the length of provincial/territorial licence suspensions on conviction of a first DWI offence should be increased to 2 years from the current one year in most jurisdictions. Traffic

officers agreed more with longer suspensions, while officers over 40 agreed less. Approximately, 83% of officers agreed with administrative licence suspensions (ALS) of 90 days for drivers with BACs over 80 mg. Almost 80% of the officers agreed with impounding the vehicles operated by suspended drivers. Agreement with impoundment was lower among general duty officers and those over 40. Approximately 60% of respondents agreed with compulsory assessment and rehabilitation programs for first time DWI offenders. Provincial officers agreed less with such programs, as did general duty officers. Almost two-thirds of the officers supported the use of alcohol ignition interlocks on the vehicles of repeat offenders to prevent them from driving after drinking. Over three-quarters of officers supported public education programs which show the consequences of impaired driving (i.e. casualties, loss of licence), with agreement being higher among officers over 40. Only about half of the officers supported more police training on DWI law enforcement.

3.5.1. Discussion The results concerning DWI countermeasures indicate that overall, officers are more in agreement with changes being made by the provinces/territories rather than changes to the Criminal Code, perhaps reflecting a desire on the part of officers for the implementation of measures which deal with the impaired driver without having to go through the court system, which many officers find to be considerably time consuming and for many, less than rewarding. There was considerable support for longer licence suspensions imposed by the provinces once an impaired driver is convicted by the court. Similarly, there was considerable support for administrative licence suspension and vehicle seizure and impoundment, measures that have now been introduced in a number of jurisdictions. A recent evaluation by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation indicates that Manitoba’s administrative licence suspension and vehicle seizure and impoundment programs have been quite successful in deterring repeat DWI offences as well as promoting general deterrence (Beirness et al., 1997). While the officers were quite supportive of public education showing the consequences of impaired driving, they were fairly evenly divided on further police training on enforcing DWI laws. This latter sentiment may reflect the view heard during the focus groups that officers already receive too much training on a variety of topics. 3.6. Community policing and DWI enforcement Nationally, 38% of officers think that community policing has had a positive impact on DWI enforce-

Total

b

a

52.2

52.6

67.8

64.3

76.8

52.3b

58.4b

58.5

76.4

84.1

83.1

79.7

56.7

75.9

65.6

89.7

85.8

57.7

56.3

83.4

38.7

34.7

64.0

7.2

7.5

67.6

6.2

7.3

53.2

79.0

66.8

63.3b

86.7

85.8

70.1

56.4

42.5

6.9

6.7

35.1b

46.3b

82.8b

90.5b

57.8

76.7

66.3

52.0

77.4

67.5

57.2b

85.2b

90.1b

65.9b

66.7b

72.4b

55.9

6.9b

12.4b

59.4

5.9b

12.1b

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

charges 66.7

Percentage saying ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’. Differences were significant at PB0.05.

Training and education Public education programs showing consequences of DWIa More police training on enforcing DWI lawsa

Pro6incial/territorial administrati6e Increase licence suspension to 2 years for first offencea Administrative licence suspension for 90 days if over 80 mg%a Impound vehicle driven by suspended drivers for 30 daysa Compulsory assessment and rehabilitation for first offencea Ignition interlock devices on vehiclesa

Criminal Code (CC) charges Take DWI out of CC if no 6.0 collisiona Take DWI out of CC if no death 6.1 or injurya Lower legal limit from 80 to 50 36.9 mg%a Random breath testing at 55.5 roadsidea

Attitudes toward measures for deterring impaired drivers

Table 10 Police officers’ attitudes toward DWI measures

]500 000

54.2

77.6

66.3

60.3

85.7

86.6

67.4

54.7

37.1

8.4

7.0

56.2

79.0

67.1

59.9

81.2

84.5

68.3

54.1

39.3

6.0

6.0

51.9

75.8

70.8

55.1

82.9

86.0

66.0

57.7

37.7

8.1

7.1

49.8

76.6

65.5

59.5

86.3

88.2

69.2

58.9

34.6

8.7

7.8

54.5

73.2b

63.4

55.2

83.1b

87.4b

67.8b

61.6

30.5

7.4

6.3

52.8

75.8b

68.4

59.3

85.9b

85.9b

71.0b

56.8

39.4

7.0

6.4

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

51.0

85.3b

69.6

62.0

81.5b

86.1b

60.2b

51.0

39.3

10.0

9.0

41+ B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443 439

440

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

ment, while only about 6% say it has had a negative impact and 45% think it has had no effect (Table 11). About 5% of the officers said that their service had not adopted community policing. The RCMP officers and general duty officers see community policing as more positive than do other officers. Community policing is seen more positively by officers serving smaller communities. Of those officers who said that community policing had some impact, 54% indicated that it enabled them to work more closely with the community and 44% reported that they were better able to respond to community needs. Only 22% felt that community policing resulted in less time for DWI enforcement and only 20% believed that it resulted in less time for traffic law enforcement generally. Municipal officers generally gave more negative impacts while RCMP and provincial officers gave more positive impacts. Traffic officers gave more negative impacts, while general duty officers gave more positive effects. Officers in smaller communities noted more positive impacts, while officers serving larger communities cited more negative impacts. It was expected that community policing might be perceived by officers to be an impediment to the enforcement of DWI laws. These results suggest that the majority of the officers do not think that community policing serves as a barrier to DWI enforcement. However, community policing is less well received by traffic officers, perhaps because such an approach often results in the disbanding of traffic divisions.

3.7. Knowledge of DWI problem Officers were asked what percentage of Canadian drivers who were killed in traffic collisions they thought had BACs over 80 mg%. Over two-thirds of the officers said that they did not know the answer to this question, with only 17% able to provide the correct response (i.e. 35 915%) (Table 11). Provincial police officers appeared to be more knowledgeable on this question, as were traffic officers.

3.8. Multiple regressions A number of key variables were subjected to stepwise multiple regression analyses in order to identify the major predictive factors. The 0.01 level of significance was adopted and only those variables contributing at least 0.5% to the variance accounted for are reported. In order of decreasing importance, the number of DWI charges laid by officers during the last 12 months was found to increase with the officers personal priority of DWI, decrease with their age, increase with the likelihood that charges resulted from spot checks, increase with the use of speeding as an indicator of possible DWI, decrease with the likelihood that charges result

from collisions, be higher among full time traffic officers, decrease with their management’s priority for DWI, decrease with the perceived frequency of cases being dismissed in court because of errors in forms, and increase with their agreement that the legal BAC limit should be lowered. Together these predictors accounted for 16% of the variance in the number of DWI charges laid. It is interesting to note that none of the factors relating to the time it takes to process a charge or the time spent in court were important in predicting the number of DWI charges laid. The most important factors appear to relate to the perceived importance of the DWI problem for officers and their management. The more dedicated officers were more likely to detect impaired drivers by conducting spot checks or using signs like speeding, rather than finding impaired drivers by chance at a collision. The percentage of officers’ DWI cases where the defendant pleaded guilty decreased as the likelihood that defendants escaping conviction of DWI due to technicalities increased, decreased with problems with proving in court that breath tests were given as soon as practicable, decreased with the time that officers spent in court, decreased as community size increased, increased with management priority given to DWI enforcement, decreased with the frequency of problems introducing roadside screening test results as evidence in court, and decreased with the frequency of plea bargaining. Together, these predictors accounted for 21% of the variance in defendants pleading guilty to a DWI offence. The chances of defendants pleading guilty of DWI seems to depend in large part, on the difficulties of proving a defendant guilty. The greater the procedural difficulties, the less likely that the defendant will plead guilty. The percentage of officers’ cases where the defendant was found to be guilty of DWI in court decreased with the frequency of defendants escaping conviction of DWI due to technicalities, decreased with problems in introducing screening test results as evidence, increased with likelihood that charges result from erratic driving, decreased as trials get longer, decreased with increasing plea bargaining, increased with age of the officers and was greater if the officer was performing general police duties. These predictors accounted for 20% of the variance in the incidence of defendants being convicted of DWI during a trial. Again the likelihood of securing a DWI conviction appears to depend in large part on procedural barriers. The reported frequency of using short term licence suspensions rather than laying DWI charges increased with the perceived likelihood of escape from conviction on a legal technicality, increased with plea bargaining, increased with the length of the average trial, increased if officers said that they would lay more charges if it took less time, increased to the extent that Crown

55.5b 39.3b 3.8b 1.4b

b

a

All values are percentages. Differences were significant at PB0.05.

Officers knowing percentage of dri6ers killed who ha6e BAC o6er 80 mg% Officers who gave correct per- 17.3 23.2b 32.9b 22.6b centage (35 915%)a Officers who said they don’t 67.9 76.8b 67.1b 77.4b knowa

46.8b 41.8b 0.0b 11.4b

22.4b 77.6b

67.1b

38.9b 50.7b 5.4b 5.1b

32.9b

30.7b 54.9b 10.6b 3.8b

General

Traffic

RCMP

Municipal

Provincial

Type of police work

Type of service

Impact of community policing on DWI enforcement 37.6 28.1b Very/somewhat positivea a No real impact 45.2 58.3b 5.5 8.6b Very/somewhat negativea Do not have community 5.4 5.0b policinga

Total

Table 11 Community policing and DWI knowledge

]500 000

76.1b

23.9b

51.6b 40.7b 2.6b 5.0b

73.8b

26.2b

38.7b 49.8b 5.5b 6.1b

76.2b

23.8b

32.8b 55.1b 8.5b 3.4b

76.9b

23.1b

26.8b 59.7b 8.7b 4.8b

77.2b

22.8b

34.1 52.9 6.0 6.9

74.1b

25.9b

37.4 51.8 5.8 4.9

31–40

530

100 000 –499 999

B10 000 10 000 –99 999

Age of officer

Community size

77.5b

22.5b

41.4 48.6 7.1 2.9

41+

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443 441

442

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

Attorneys were seen to be unprepared for their DWI cases, decreased as DWI enforcement as a personal priority increased, increased with the time on the witness stand and increased with the average times in court per DWI case. Overall, these predictors accounted for 21% of the variance in the reported use of short term licence suspensions. Use of short term licence suspensions appears to depend on procedural issues in court as well as the length of time associated with processing charges and going to court and with their personal priorities. The frequency of using other forms of discretion decreased with DWI enforcement as a personal priority, increased if officers said that they would lay more charges if it took less time, decreased as their priority of DWI enforcement was rated higher, increased with charges resulting from collisions, decreased with the time that it takes to get to the station, increased with lower probability of conviction during trial, increased with plea bargaining frequency, and decreased as charges were more likely to result from spot checks. Together, these predictors accounted for 21% of the variance in the use of discretion. For the most part, the use of discretion appears to depend on personal priorities, time to process charges and procedural issues related to the courts. The officers’ personal priority regarding DWI enforcement decreased with the use of discretion, increased with rated priority of speeding, increased with their agreement that there should be more police training on DWI, increased with management’s priority regarding DWI, increased with agreement that the legal BAC limit should be lowered, decreased as charges were more likely to result from collisions, decreased with agreement that DWI should be taken out of the Criminal Code and increased with agreement that there should be more public education on DWI. In total, 21% of the variance in the personal priority of DWI enforcement was accounted for.

4. General discussion Front-line police officers are laying relatively few DWI charges, perhaps due to the lengthy time to process each charge (almost 3 h). Many officers said that they would lay more charges if it took less time to process them. The time required for court appearances (over 4 h) for those cases going to trial, also serves as a barrier to laying more charges. However, relatively few DWI charges are going to trial, according to front-line officers, either because drivers are pleading guilty to impaired driving or plea bargaining. The completion of requisite forms and reports is the most time consuming step of the charging process; many officers feel that these forms should be simplified not only to save time

but also to avoid errors which can result in cases being dismissed. Consideration should be given to automating the DWI charging process with computerized forms as much as is possible. However, time may not be the only important factor. The regression analyses revealed that a number of procedural issues relating to DWI cases may be frustrating officers leading them to not lay charges. Officers appear to be willing to invest the time in DWI enforcement provided that this time is not wasted due to the defendant getting off as a result of procedural maneuvering (e.g. errors in forms, introduction of evidence, plea bargaining, etc.). When officers do lay DWI charges, it is most likely the result of the driver bringing him/herself to the officers’ attention either through their driving behaviour, being involved in a collision or through a public complaint. Relatively gross driver errors and signs of drinking are being used in detecting impaired drivers suggesting that the more alcohol-tolerant impaired drivers who often display few outward signs of impairment, may be successfully escaping police detection. Mobile breath equipment was seen as a way to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of DWI enforcement but the feasibility of such mobile testing was questioned. The use of videotaping may encourage more accused impaired drivers to enter a plea of guilty. Further study into the use of such equipment would be valuable. Given the difficulties associated with laying impaired driving charges and obtaining convictions, it would appear that some (20–30%) officers are using their discretion in deciding to lay DWI charges, either by using a higher BAC criterion for charges (i.e. over 100 mg%), using short-term licence suspensions instead of laying Criminal Code charges, or getting the impaired driver off the road by informal means (e.g. arranging a taxi, getting sober passenger to drive, etc.). While this discretion may well succeed in getting the impaired driver off the road, it could also be sending a message to impaired drivers that rather than being charged for DWI, they may get lucky and escape charges. Such a message would likely undermine the general deterrent effect of police enforcement eventually. It is evident that those officers in the jurisdictions that spend the longest amount of time laying DWI charges and appearing in court, with the fewest cases ending up with a guilty plea or a conviction, are those that are using alternative means of dealing with impaired drivers the most. The perception of Crown Attorneys as not having enough time to adequately prepare DWI cases and of judges in some cases giving greater credibility to defence experts may also be undermining some officers’ motivation to lay charges. Even if they do their job, some officers feel that impaired drivers are getting off because the court system is not functioning the way

B. Jonah et al. / Accident Analysis and Pre6ention 31 (1999) 421–443

that they think it should. Furthermore, although officers consider DWI enforcement to be a fairly high priority, they do not always perceive that they have the full support of their management in dealing with impaired driving, and that this is reflected in inadequate levels of human resources allocated to enforcing DWI laws. Given the difficulty of dealing with criminal DWI charges, it is not surprising that officers are not very supportive of further changes to the Criminal Code such as lowering the legal limit, which may increase the number of drivers charged or introducing random breath testing which would also increase charges. Although random breath testing has been quite successful in countries such as Australia (Moloney, 1995), police officers in Canada do not appear to have much interest in such a measure. Nor are they at all supportive of taking impaired driving out of the Criminal Code when there is no collision, death or injuries involved, perhaps because it could send the wrong message to the public about the seriousness of impaired driving. Rather, they prefer further changes by provincial/territorial governments such as administrative licence suspension, vehicle impoundment, alcohol ignition interlock, and mandatory assessment and rehabilitation programs, which could be and in fact have been introduced, by some Canadian provinces and territories without requiring Criminal Code changes. Contrary to expectation, community policing does not appear to pose a barrier to DWI enforcement, except perhaps among traffic officers who often see their traffic divisions disbanded with such an approach. If the community viewed DWI as a more important priority, then presumably the police would afford it more attention than it is currently receiving. Finally, very few officers could give any response to the question about the percentage of fatally injured drivers that were legally impaired let alone one that was even relatively close to the correct answer. This finding underscores the need for more and better communications with front-line officers about the havoc that impaired driving causes on our roads which may encourage officers and management to redouble their efforts in combating DWI. Even though most officers say that they do not want more training on DWI enforcement, perhaps there should be more training on the significance of the impaired driving problem to the safety of our roads. A caveat concerning the results of this survey is that they reflect the perceptions of police officers about

.

443

impaired driving enforcement in Canada (e.g. charges laid, time to process charges, court time and problems, etc.), which may or may not reflect reality. Their attitudes about impaired driving, impaired drivers, the courts, among other things, may have influenced their perceptions of the system and vice versa. The best way to verify the findings of this survey would be a more in-depth investigation of the actual workings of the criminal justice system as it is applied to impaired driving. In summary, front-line officers do appear to be committed to enforcing impaired driving laws but they are being hampered by the lengthy time for processing charges, the time required for court appearances, the difficulties in dealing with the courts and the lack of full support from management and the subsequent shortage of resources. There is clear need to review how the legal system is dealing with impaired driving in Canada to determine how it could be streamlined so that it works more efficiently and effectively, reducing the frustration of police officers that is evident in the responses of many officers in this survey. Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the legal system should result in less impaired driving and safer roads in Canada. References Beirness, D.J., Simpson, H.M., Mayhew, D.R., 1997. Evaluation of the vehicle impoundment and administrative licence suspension programs in Manitoba. Report prepared for Road Safety Directorate, Transport Canada. Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 1997. Impaired driving in Canada, 1996. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-XPE, vol. 17, no. 12. Health Canada, 1992. National survey on drinking and driving 1988: Technical report. Health Canada, 1997. Canada’s alcohol and other drugs survey 1994: A discussion of the findings. Mayhew, D., Brown, S., Simpson, H., 1997. Alcohol use among drivers and pedestrians fatally injured in motor vehicle accidents: Canada 1995. Report prepared for Road Safety, Transport Canada, TP11759-95(E). Mayhew, D., Simpson, H., Beirness, D., 1996. Drinking and driving in Canada: 1974 – 1993. Moloney, M., 1995. Random breath testing in the State of Victoria, Australia. Proceedings of the International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, T-95, Adelaide, Australia. Pavic, B., Stoduto, G., Mann, R.E., Anglin, L., Vingilis, E., 1997. Fast-track courts and video cameras as drinking-driving countermeasures. Proceedings of International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, T-97, Annecy, France, Vingilis, E., Blefgen, H. et al., 1984. Ontario police officers enforcement and perceptions of drinking-driving laws. Proceedings of International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety, Puerto Rico.