Aidp 25th Anniversary Quiz

"Stoned" drivers can be every bit as dangerous as drunk drivers. Depending on what you've smoked, swallowed or injected, drug impairment slows reflexes and other motor skills, causes flawed depth perception and judgment, and poor coordination.

New legislation now allows police to test drivers for drug impairment and charge those who refuse or are impaired.

Mixing alcohol and drugs and driving can be even deadlier.

Many prescription medication and over-the counter drugs may impair driving abilities. Medications that cause drowsiness affect a person’s ability to drive including those used to treat sleeping difficulties, anxiety, depression, stress, pain, allergies and hay fever.

Find out how any medication you take can impair your driving ability. Read labels and talk to your doctor or pharmacist.

Your impaired judgement may tell you you’re okay to drive when you’re not! It is a big mistake to decide if you’re sober enough to drive after you’ve been drinking. You may be able to see and walk without staggering but the reality is you can't always tell when impairment kicks in.

Starting at the first drink, alcohol affects your judgment, attention span, alertness, reaction time, and ability to do more than one task at a time. These are all vital skills when you get behind the wheel. Alcohol affects your ability to judge your own level of impairment so always plan ahead to get home safely before you start drinking.

Impaired driving is not safe at any speed or in any location. Even driving slowly, you are at high risk of collision. Many serious crashes take place on roads less traveled, including the countryside.

The Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) reports that BACs of .03% are associated with a two to threefold risk of a serious crash and risk of a serious crash increases 6-17 times with a BAC of .05%. It is safest to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of zero.

Even at low BACs, your ability to use your judgment, coordination, and vision are impaired.

So many people believe that if they pace their alcohol consumption and keep it at no more than one drink an hour, they will be fine. This is often not true. Most adults take between 1-2 hours to metabolize one standard drink (1-341 mL beer, 142 mL wine, 43 mL of spirits). Higher alcohol beers, wines and coolers contain more alcohol than a standard drink and take longer to metabolize.

None of these activities reduces the amount of alcohol in your blood – the only way to get sober.

Time alone will allow your body to eliminate alcohol from your blood. Many people make the grave mistake of driving impaired because they feel better or more awake after having a coffee, exercise, a shower, or a nap. They thought they were safe to drive when they were still impaired, sometimes with tragic results.

A young, inexperienced driver, even when completely sober, is up to nine times more likely than an experienced driver to have a fatal crash. Add alcohol to the mix and it becomes even more deadly.
Inexperienced drinkers are more impaired even at low levels of alcohol and are more likely to engage in binge drinking. Any amount of alcohol puts young people at higher risk of crash. A 16 or 17 year old impaired driver is up to165 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash.
Alberta’s graduated drivers licencing recognizes this risk and requires zero alcohol levels for learner and probationary drivers. The good news is the majority of young drivers choose not to drive after drinking.

If you think a cab ride is expensive, think again. An impaired driving conviction will cost you! There are legal costs, fines, impaired drivers program fees, licence reinstatement fees, increased insurance costs (sometimes up to $5000 extra), ignition interlock program fees, and lost wages to name a few.

You are never a safe driver if you are impaired. Tolerance is dangerous because it fools you into thinking you are more sober than you are. Tolerance can trick you into believing you are safe to drive when you are not. Zero tolerance for impaired driving is the best option.

Alcohol tolerance is increased by regular drinking and means that you have to drink more alcohol in order to achieve the same effects as before tolerance was established. However, tolerance has no effect on your Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). In other words, you may not feel impaired even if your BAC is elevated.