Thank you.
We've addressed those issues in an article that we've published in the international journal Injury Prevention, and we've published in the Criminal Law Quarterly. The reviews of the research literature are quite clear and they are consistent: lowering blood alcohol levels is extremely effective in deterring impaired driving. That's been the experience of every country that has lowered its blood alcohol level.
The other thing we should be aware of is that the vast majority of other countries around the world have made it an offence to drive with a blood alcohol level of 0.05. I refer to a chart on page 5 of my submission.
Concerning the issue of the hardcore drinking driver, there is a great deal of mythology. Not that many studies have been done about the drinking history of people who are killed in impaired driving crashes. The one study that has been done, a comprehensive study by someone called Baker, in the United States, indicated that even though hardcore drinking drivers make the most impaired driving trips, only about a third of the people who are killed or responsible for fatal crashes are hardcore drinking drivers. The majority of impaired driving deaths and injuries appear in this country to be among what are called heavy episodic drinkers. A typical example is the 16- to 25-year-old male. This group represents 13% of the population but 32% of the traffic injuries. The idea that our problem is limited to hardcore drinking drivers simply doesn't appear to be borne out.
The other thing is that two studies that have been done on the impact of lowering blood alcohol levels, one in Sweden and the other in Australia, indicated that the reductions in the number of people with very high blood alcohol levels was greater when you lowered the blood alcohol level, in Sweden from 0.05 to 0.02 and in Australia from 0.08 to 0.05.
Maybe the problem is with the people you're inviting to be witnesses. I'd like to see more scientists invited and more research people invited, and fewer people who represent particular interests.