Statistics Canada says that drunk driving charges have been cut in half over 20 years, but MADD Canada says the reason for that is because police are laying fewer charges due to cracks in Canada's laws.
The StatsCan figures, which were gathered at MADD's request, show that there were 117,514 people charged in 1986 for operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level of 0.08, compared to 57, 147 in 2006.
Anti-drunk driving advocates say that police are discouraged by the piles of paperwork involved and the legal challenges in convicting an impaired driver and therefore, are laying less charges.
Margaret Miller the national president of MADD Canada told Â鶹´«Ã½net Friday that she didn't think the figures actually represented a significant drop in drinking and driving.
"I am not putting too much stock in the Statistics Canada figures simply because they aren't taking into account the impaired people being charged at the .05 to the .07 level," she said, noting that those levels are taken care of at the provincial level.
She said the police has been doing a very good job of getting drivers off the road using provincially-run suspended sentences for those with blood-alcohol levels between 0.05 to 0.07.
But she said those suspended sentences are way up and should be counted in StatsCan's figures.
Most experts have said there has been a dramatic turn in attitudes about drinking and driving, resulting in fewer people doing so.
"People are tired and sick to death of opening their newspapers every day and seeing another death caused but drunk driving," she said.
Traffic deaths down
Another recently released StatsCan report showed that traffic deaths have dropped dramatically in Canada since the 1970s.
There were 5,933 deaths in 1979 compared to 2,875 deaths in 2004. The report stated a number of reasons for the decline.
"Technological advances such as anti-lock braking, airbags, improved seatbelts and child restraints make vehicles safer," the report said.
"Legislation and enforcement of speed limits, blood alcohol levels, seatbelt use, bicycle helmets for children and other safety measures are intended to protect vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists. Changing social norms discourage drinking and driving."
Staff Sgt. Andy Norrie of the Toronto Police Traffic Services, told Â鶹´«Ã½net Friday that police officers are committed to getting drunk drivers off the road.
"I can tell you police officers here in Toronto and throughout Canada are committed to safety and we continue to put a significant amount of our resources into battling impaired driving," he said.
He did say that convicting impaired drivers has become more difficult.
"As our legislatures increase the penalty and the sanctions against the offenders who commit these offences, there's more (of an imperative) for the person charged to put up a defence," he said.
Norrie said more expensive defence lawyers are bringing sophisticated techniques to the courtroom which requires police officers to put greater efforts into helping the prosecution.
"We continue to adapt and learn from our experiences," he said. "As technology and equipment becomes more complex, so does our preparation."
"I think the legislators have given us a fairly good toolset to work with, I think we have to redouble our efforts to get this offenders, but we have to work with our partners."
Some loopholes have already been closed in the Canadian Criminal Code and some legal defences have been barred, which experts say may lead to a spike in charges in 2009.
