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Abstract
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In recent years, a greater percentage of fatally injured drivers tested positive for drugs other than alcohol in Canada. While some of this growth may be due to improvements in data collection, dealing with drugged driving has become more of a priority in road safety planning (Brown et al. 2022). Different drugs may adversely affect one's driving in distinct ways. For example, a driver under the influence of central nervous system stimulants may exhibit more aggressive and risky behaviour behind the wheel (MacDonald et al. 2008) while cannabis use may compromise a driver's ability to stay within one's lane and adversely affect reaction time (Hart et al. 2001). In addition, the presence of both cannabis and alcohol in drivers is generally considered to be more detrimental to one's driving performance than either substance on its own (Simmons et al. 2022).
This fact sheet, sponsored by Desjardins, examines the magnitude and trends regarding the role of drugs in motor vehicle fatalities in Canada from 2000 to 2020. Data from TIRF's National Fatality Database were used to prepare this fact sheet which explores trends in the role of drug use among fatally injured victims as well as fatally injured drug-positive drivers. Other topics examined include characteristics of drug-related crashes resulting in fatalities such as time of day, time of week, and the number of vehicle occupants. At the time of publication, coroner data from British Columbia for 2020 were not yet available. Data for Canada exclude this jurisdiction.
A fatality is defined as drug-related if at least one driver in the crash (either dying or surviving) was considered to be positive for drugs (including cannabis, illicit drugs, prescription drugs, and over-the- counter drugs). This is based, in order of importance, upon toxicological data from the coroner or medical examiner, police-reported collision data, and coroner/medical examiner narrative information.
In this fact sheet, TIRF's reporting on the role of driver drug use refers to its presence and does not necessarily mean that drugs were the primary or sole cause of the collision.
Key Findings
According to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation’s (TIRF) National Fatality
Database, the number of fatalities where at least one of the drivers involved was positive for drugs (including cannabis, illicit drugs, prescription drugs, and over-the-counter drugs) increased from 230 in 2000 to 474 in 2020. In addition, during this same period, the percentage of all traffic fatalities that were drug-related increased from 10.7% to 37.1%. Since 2013, there has been a higher percentage of drug-related crashes than those involving alcohol, distraction, or other factors.
> Among drivers who were fatally injured between 2016 and 2020:
» males (52.9%) were slightly more likely to test positive for drugs than females (49.8%);
» almost three in five drivers (58.1%) aged 20-34 tested positive for drugs as
opposed to 46.5% of drivers aged 65 and older;
» prior to the legalization of the recreational use of cannabis, 24.0% tested positive for this particular drug while 28.1% tested positive in the period following legalization.
> A larger percentage of drug-related fatal crashes occurred:
» during night-time hours (6 pm to 5:59 am) as opposed to the rest of the day;
» in vehicles with one occupant as opposed to multiple occupants |