Impaired driving continues to be a leading contributor to fatalities and serious injuries on Canadian roads. In 1999, the latest year for which national data is available, 33% of all fatally injured drivers had been drinking. Almost 20% of drivers were in serious injury crashes that involved alcohol.

In 1990, the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety directed CCMTA to proceed with programs to reduce by 20% the number of traffic fatalities involving impaired drivers by the year 1995 and in doing so approved the resulting Strategy to Reduce Impaired Driving (STRID).

Under STRID, each jurisdiction was encouraged to develop a four-year plan; establish a central coordinating agency; establish an inter-agency committee; coordinate enforcement and awareness programs; develop and implement mandatory treatment programs; and implement a new legislative initiative by the end of 1993. Very few jurisdictions were able to implement these recommended programs by the suggested date and no improvements were observed in the incidence of impaired driving and its consequences during this period.

In 1995, the program was extended and STRID 2001 was formulated with the goal of reducing the per cent of fatalities and serious injuries involving drinking drivers by 20% by the year 2001. This goal was incorporated into Canada's Road Safety Vision 2001 which was adopted by CCMTA and subsequently endorsed by the Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation and Highway Safety

STRID 2001 has officially come to an end, however the alcohol-crash problem, remains significant. It was determined by CCMTA and the Council of Ministers in October 2000, that there was a need to continue and build on the experience and lessons learned from the two preceding strategies.

Under the national Road Safety Vision 2010 a new STRID strategy and target has been developed which aims to:

• Achieve a 40% decrease in the percentage of road users fatally or seriously injured in crashes involving alcohol.

Reducing the number of injuries and deaths due to impaired driving is a key initiative to help achieve STRID's 2010 targets and also the overall targets set in Road Safety Vision 2010.