Nearly 5-million Canadians admit to riding with a driver who had been drinking

Roughly 7% of Canadians surveyed admitted to being a passenger in a motor vehicle driven by someone who had been drinking any amount of alcohol on one occasion in the last month, according to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF). TIRF conducted a public opinion poll in September 2011 that investigated Canadians’ behaviours and actions in relation to drinking and driving. Another 6.7% of those surveyed indicated they had done so on two or more occasions – this corresponds to an estimated 2.3 million. Adding the two above results together, the survey found a total of 4.7 million people rode with a driver who had been drinking. Of the drivers who admitted to driving when they thought they were over the legal limit in the last 12 months, 42.2% reported doing so with a passenger in the vehicle.