Volume 96, Issue 21
Thursday October 3, 2002
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Road dangers aplenty
By Chris
Webden
Gazette Staff
Drunk driving may have to take a backseat to other road safety concerns, according to a report written by a researcher here at Western.
Dr. David MacGregor, professor of sociology at King's College, has recently published an article that appears in Driving Lessons: Exploring Systems that Make Traffic Safer, in which he points out that, although drinking and driving is an important societal issue, other areas should be looked at when it comes to improving safety on roads and highways.
"Road safety is an important social problem and drinking and driving certainly gets us part of the way, but there are other issues that we need to look at," MacGregor said, adding highway improvements, public transit and automobile safety standards are also integral.
According to MacGregor's report, no more than 25 per cent of fatal collisions in the United States are alcohol related. However, his report does have its critics.
"The 1992 study [MacGregor] used is insignificant because, recently, alcohol related deaths have increased dramatically," said Andrew Murie, the national executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
According to Murie, 40 per cent of fatally injured drivers in Canada have alcohol in their blood, while over 30 per cent are over the legal limit.
Bob Nichols, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, said he agrees there are other road safety issues to be addressed besides drunk driving, but notes Ontario is already investing a lot of money in those areas.
"Ontario has invested $6.5 billion on improving road conditions and enhancing safety since 1995," Nichols explained.
"Car crashes and road safety are complicated phenomena," MacGregor said. "But [other than drinking and driving] there is still another 50 per cent [of accidents] you have to account for."