B.C.’s northeast has province’s worst drunk driving problem

Communities in the Interior, especially BC’s northeast, have far higher rates of drunk driving than Vancouver and Victoria, data shows.

As part of an exclusive Globalnews.ca investigation records of alcohol-related licence suspensions and totals of licenced drivers by postal code were released by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia under access-to-information laws.

The suspensions resulted from all types of impaired driving-related charges, from impaired driving causing death to 12-hour suspensions.

A solid block of three postal codes in the province’s northeast, taking in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and a large surrounding area, are among the province’s worst five for licence suspensions. British Columbia has 187 postal areas.

BC alcohol-related driving prohibitions per 1,000 licenced drivers

Source: Insurance Bureau of British Columbia | Obtained under access-to-information legislation. Alcohol-related driving prohibitions between April 25, 2010 and April 24, 2011 per 1,000 licenced drivers totalled on April 30, 2011.

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“That doesn’t really surprise me,” says Sgt. Steve Pratt of the Fort St. John RCMP. “We’re a resource-based community, and this region, with the oil and gas industry, it brings a lot of young, predominantly male workers from other parts of the province and other parts of the country. A lot of people here have a higher rate of disposable income than other parts of the province.”

“A lot of the jobs are camp-based, so when they get their time away from camp, they come to town and there’s a lot of drinking at the bars, and alcohol and drug use go hand in hand.”

On the map, Vancouver’s lower impaired driving rates shows a sharp contrast with the rest of the province. Of BC’s lowest 10 postal areas for impaired suspensions, nine are in or near Vancouver (the tenth is in Victoria.) The eastern part of Victoria also has low rates.

(Ontario’s impaired driving map has a similar pattern, with rates falling the closer a neighbourhood is to downtown Toronto)

Injuries linked to impaired driving have fallen steadily in BC over the last 15 years, ICBC statistics show.

Top 10

(Only FSAs with over 1,000 licenced drivers included in list)

• V0L – Chilcotin
• V0C – Northeastern BC
• V1G – Dawson Creek
• V1J – Fort St. John
• V1K – Merritt
• V2L – Prince George (east-central)
• V0M – Harrison Lake
• V6W – Richmond (southeast)
• V1X – Kelowna (east)
• V1N – Castlegar

Alcohol-related driving prohibitions between April 25, 2010 and April 24, 2011 per 1,000 licenced drivers totalled on April 30, 2011