Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Road collisions are a major health and social burden in Canada. Driving after drinking is a large contributor, but over the past few decades policies aimed at reducing this behaviour have shown substantial success. Evidence now shows that drug-impaired driving (DID) plays an important role in collisions. Successful initiatives will save many lives, but developing policy and programs to address DID is challenging because the evidence is new and evolving. Understanding DID is complicated by many factors including the effects of drugs, substance use patterns, and reasons for use. Qualitative research is valuable for understanding individual perceptions, awareness, and motivations regarding DID. I propose two-stage postdoctoral research that will help inform policy and collision prevention efforts. The first stage will involve interviews with varied subgroups of drug-using drivers including: young and older drivers; those with substance use problems and/or have been convicted of an impaired driving offence; those who drive after using legal and/or illegal drugs, and after recreational and/or therapeutic drug use. Questions during this stage will focus on how drivers perceive the impact of drug(s) on driving skill, any steps taken to reduce impairment, motivations behind DID, awareness of laws, and opinions about DID countermeasures. In the second stage, I will compare policies focused on efforts to address DID in Canada and international jurisdictions such as the United States, European countries, and Australia. Interviews with relevant stakeholders will accompany the policy review. Different approaches (e.g., zero-tolerance laws, remedial programs) have been suggested or tried, but there has yet to be a comprehensive report about these initiatives or their impact in the literature. The proposed research will result in important new information about DID that will be highly valuable to injury prevention researchers and policymakers in Canada and internationally.