Map of the Week: Impaired driving, part 1 (updated)

CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR

This week starts our two-part series on impaired driving.

The map shows the top 20 of Ontario's 523 postal areas for driver's licence suspension for impaired driving in 2007. I excluded two low-population areas.*

There are several distinct clusters:

Northwestern Ontario stands out, with Sioux Lookout (#1 on the list), Kenora and Fort Frances all in the top 20.

Communities in the Muskoka-Parry Sound area have four places in the top 10.

Two postal areas in and around Brockville are in the top 20.

Both of Cornwall's two postal codes are on the list.

Preston and a nearby Cambridge postal code are #20 and #19, respectively.

The information was obtained from the Ministry of Transportation under freedom-of-information legislation. It is taken from the database that supports this program (scroll down to Immediate Licence Suspension).

Using the FOI process sometimes seems to imply some tension between a journalist and a branch of government. That is certainly sometimes the case. However, in this instance, the MOT very helpfully threw in the age and sex of the suspended drivers, data I hadn’t thought to ask for.

Here is what we learn from this extra information:

The male-female ratio is about 7:1 (14,551 to 2,365).

The age graph is surprising. There are very few teenagers. The graph rises steeply at 20, peaks at 23, declines gently after that point, then starts to rise again at 40, hitting a second peak at 45. After that point, it shows a clear second decline.

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Click on the chart to see the full image.

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Update: It occured to me to create the age graph for female drunk drivers (who, it bears repeating, are a small minority at just under 14% of the total). The age graph for male drunk drivers is perhaps not surprisingly similar to the one above. The graph for women, on the other hand, has some differences:

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Click on the chart to see the full image.

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Women drunk drivers turn out to be more middle-aged than their male counterparts. While the highest age group for male drunk drivers is 23, the highest age group for female drunk drivers is 43.

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In part 2, which may or may not run next week, we will look at the impaired driving map of the GTA.

Map may display better in Firefox.

* L0H (Gormley), with five suspensions and a population of 713, and K1P (central Ottawa) with two suspensions and a population of 396.

Thanks again to Star computer-assisted reporting editor Andy Bailey for his help with the data.

Comments

[Robyn]

So the recent additional restrictions on teen drivers don't seem to be at all supported by the data. Interesting.

[jason]

@robyn: i suppose one would have to add-in all the teens who would have been charged with impaired driving but were not because they died as a result of their crashes. i doubt that would be enough to bring up the age 17-19 numbers to match the age 22-24, but the data is only license suspensions.

btw: where is the y-axis?

[pcain]

Hi, Jason -

The y axis is a source of some frustration, to be honest.

Ideally, these graphs would look more like these: http://code.google.com/apis/chart/styles.html#grid

but I haven't found an example yet that uses the simple (non-encoded) number system which we're using.

Actually, if anybody can find a Google Charts API bar chart with a y axis, I'd love to see how it works.

[d littman]

Perhaps there is a correlation between the targeted age groups for alcoholic beverages (e.g. beer wine, vodka) and the charges laid for impaired driving by age.. A comparison of the two might be interesting when considering the regulations regarding persuasive communication and responsible use of products. Perhaps the "wrong" message is successfully being conveyed.

[christian coroft]

Again the first thing I notice is a lack of y-axis units. Poor presentation on the graph. Perhaps the y is in units 1/100 of a person.

[scottd]

Is this the postal code where the driver lives or where the driver was arrested ?

[pcain]

Where the driver lives.

[Cheeko]

Great to know that the crackdown would have affected people on Manitoulin Island.

[Joe]

We need to also consider the amount of impaired drivers whom cops did not arrest or charge but let him to park his car and take a cab home. Probably there are more of this instance than where charges were laid.

[Jimmy]

I think this map is a little outdated. I see drunk drivers on a daily basis in Prince Edward County.... And not a single mention in Kingston aka drunksville.............. Mmmm

[Andrew]

This data would be far more revealing if it were expressed as a percentage of drivers at each age group.

I.E. Sure there are few teenagers, but there are also fewer teenage drivers in general.

[George]

Lies, damned lies and statistics. If you play with the numbers enough, you can "prove" anything even if is misinformed.

Since politicians, and sadly also the police, cannot actually solve problems, they are willing to be "seen" to be doing something. The effectiveness is less important than the perception.

Sadly, today's journalists "report facts" from politicians, police and other so-called experts without understanding the context.

Alcohol use with graduated licences make sense because of the experience factor (regardless of age).

The preliminary roadside breathalyzer is not sufficently accurate as evidence in court. They merely indicate whether a person should undergo a proper test. The preliminary kit only indicates pass, warn or fail. Anyone blowing less than .02 will pass and they are assumed to have a 0.00 BAC!

I do not believe that the police should be the administrators of justice. Their job is to charge suspects and bring them before the courts. If you are "not guilty" but suspended at the roadside then you are punished without due process.

A zero BAC during the graduated learning or probationary period is justified and I would not oppose a year long suspension "when imposed by a court."

The .08 requirement should be lowered to .05

Pilots have a saying, "Eight hours from the bottle to the throttle (24 hours from a "big" bottle)."

Let's do the "right" thing instead of the "easy" thing.