Evidence of meeting #26 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was evidence.
A recording is available from Parliament.
September 29th, 2016 / 5:25 p.m.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, As an Individual
Indeed. I can't speak for the state of the penal system right now, in terms of providing those services, but those individuals who have difficulty in controlling their alcohol use will need a specific approach that may not be provided in a punishment milieu; whereas with others, really, it's irresponsible, negligent behaviour that deserves to be punished and, possibly, that is enough.
It is a very heterogeneous phenomenon.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Ms. Ouimet, you've done some research on the effectiveness of new technologies in reducing risky behaviours.
Can you tell us anything about those that might be, perhaps, more effective than just using random breath testing or mandatory minimums? Are there any that would apply?
Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, As an Individual
We did research on individual devices in vehicles to see if they would be helpful, but it's very preliminary. We heard that some companies are working on devices that could be implemented in individual cars and could prevent the car from starting if someone has had a drink, but they don't seem to be working very well.
While we're talking about autonomous driving, it seems that it could be simple to have a device in the car, but it doesn't seem to be.
There are a lot of issues, and they have not resolved them. Obviously, if it happens, we will all change jobs in my field, and I would be happy to.
We tested a simple feedback device on young people after they had been drinking, in a lab, and they had drunk a relatively high amount of alcohol and it actually didn't help. It was only a feedback device installed in a car. They were alone in a car, and 60% decided to drive the simulator anyway. A lot of them told us that they had driven in the past feeling the same way that they felt in the lab.
Basically, in terms of individual devices, in the short term, I don't see much. I have not heard about much happening right now. I think the study we did was one of the first ones with people under the influence, and it's not very promising.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Do either of you see a benefit to reducing the 0.08 to 0.05, or whatever the number is?
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, As an Individual
It's 0.05. Many jurisdictions have actually done that.
Generally, although it's hard to specify exactly what effect an individual program has, because usually it's combined with many elements including education and other dispositions and possibly increased enforcement for a while, generally the results are fairly positive that if you lower the BAC level, in fact, you reduce the rate of impaired driving.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Rob Oliphant
Thank you very much to all of our witnesses.
Thank you once again for your testimony.
That was a good meeting. We will continue on Tuesday.
The meeting is adjourned.