Call 911 Programs

Andrew Murie Chief Executive Officer

MADD Canada November 2011

MADD Canada

• Founded in 1990; modeled on MADD US (1980)

• Mission Statement: To stop impaired driving and to support victims of this violent crime

• Priorities:

- promoting effective legislation - producing research & statistical analyses - raising public awareness - providing support to victims of impaired driving

• Approx. 110 community- based groups across Canada and 7,500 volunteers

Estimated Number of Alcohol-Related Crash Fatalities, Injuries and Property Damage Only

(PDO) in Canada

Year Fatalities Injuries PDO

2004 1,157 68,245 225,555

2005 1,210 71,413 235,901

2006 1,278 75,374 249,117

2007 1,239 73,120 241,666

2008 1,162 68,530 226,522

Impaired Driving

• Impairment-related crashes are the #1 criminal cause of death in Canada

• Since 2000, progress to reduce impairment-related deaths and injuries has stalled

• In 2007, MADD Canada launched Campaign 911 as one of its key strategies to reduce the number of impairment-related deaths and injuries

Campaign 911

• 5th Anniversary

• Programs in:

Newfoundland & Labrador New Brunswick

Prince Edward Island* Nova Scotia*

Ontario Manitoba*

Saskatchewan* Alberta*

British Columbia Yukon

* Provincial Programs

Call 911 Program Across Canada

New Brunswick

Bathurst

Blacks Harbour

Fredericton

Grand Forks

Rothesay

Saint John

St. Andrews

St. George

St. Stephen

Nova Scotia*

Amherst

Bridgewater

Cape Breton

Cobequid

New Glasgow

South Shore

Ontario

Barrie/Simcoe

Durham Region

Elliot Lake

Grey North Bruce

Halton Region

Alberta*

Beaver County

Calgary

Camrose

Edmonton

Fort MacMurrray

Fort Saskatchewan

Leduc

Parkland County

Red Deer

St. Albert

British Columbia

Nanaimo

Manitoba*

Brandon

Newfoundland & Labrador

Clarenville

Gander

Grand Falls– Windsor

Labrador West

St. John’s

Hamilton

Kawartha Lakes

London

Manitoulin Island

Ottawa

Peel Region

Renfrew County

Sarnia Lambton

Timiskaming & Area

Windsor & Essex County

York Region

Prince Edward Island*

Charlottetown

Kensington

Summerside

Saskatchewan*

Estevan

Regina

Saskatoon

Weyburn

Yukon

Whitehorse

Campaign 911 Materials

Media Tools

• Radio PSAs

• Television PSAs

• You Tube

• Facebook

Television PSAs

Glasses Rewind

Television PSAs

Staying on the Road

Rationale for 911 Programs

• Calling 911 to report suspected impaired drivers is not new or novel

• Previous public reporting programs failed to catch on because they did not use the emergency 911 number

•

50% of public did not think calling 911 was an appropriate use of the emergency number

Benefits of 911 Programs

• Increases perception for drinking drivers that they will be caught

• Involves the public

• Strategic use of police resources

• Increases number of 911 calls to report suspected impaired drivers

Benefits of 911 Programs (cont.)

• Increases number of impaired driving charges

• Prevents alcohol-related crashes

• Helps, along with other countermeasures, to reduce impaired driving deaths and injuries

Key Components of an Effective 911 Program

• Partnership with traffic safety organizations, police, emergency call centres, public health, insurance companies, municipalities, media

• Large, highly-visible signs

Key Components of an Effective 911 Program (cont.)

• Sufficient police and emergency call centre resources to respond to the 911 calls to report suspected impaired drivers

• Educate the public on how to recognize a suspected impaired drivers - combat the misperception that impaired driving is not appropriate reason to call 911

Media launch of program

Highly visible campaign urging public to call 911 to report suspected impaired

drivers

Drinking driver

Public calls 911 to report suspected impaired driver

10 signs of a suspected

impaired driver

Conduct for placing 911 call

Best practices for reporting a suspected

impaired driver

Emergency Call Centre dispatches police

Police are dispatched to find suspected impaired driver

Follow-up:

- Letters/personal visits to vehicle owners - Media release if a 911 call results in impaired driving charge - Keep statistics and report monthly

- Record calls - Date / time of day - Vehicle information

Intercept suspected impaired driver

Owner of vehicle is known, no interception by police

- No interception - Vehicle unknown

Key Responsibilities of Police Enforcement

• Support of Police Chief (launch event)

• Prepare for redeployment of resources

• Respond to 911 calls for suspected impaired drivers

• Laying charges, reporting medical problems

• Follow-up with owners of vehicles reported but not intercepted

• Responding to media and public enquiries about 911 program to report suspected impaired drivers

Key Responsibilities of Police Enforcement (cont.)

• Media releases

• Recording and compiling statistical data on the 911 program:

- number of 911 calls

- number of intercepts

- number of impaired driving charges

- number of alcohol-related crashes

- number of alcohol-related crash fatalities

- number of alcohol-related crash injuries

- number of letters sent to vehicle owners

- number of personal visits to vehicle owners

Sample Letter to Vehicle Owners

Sample Press Release

Sample of Ongoing Promotion

York Regional Police is inviting

members of the media to

attend a press conference to

mark the 1000th arrest as a

result of “Safe Roads… Your

Call” Program”

Key Responsibilities of Emergency Call Centres

• Ability to handle increase in 911 calls, particularly on evenings and weekends

• Ensure collection of sufficient information for successful police interception

• Dispatch calls to police

• Monitor calls for quality, direction of travel, day and time of call

Educating the Public 10 Signs of a Suspected Impaired Driver

• Driving unreasonably fast, slow or at inconsistent speeds

• Slowly driving in and out of lanes

• Driving without headlights, failing to lower high-beams or

leaving turn signals on

• Tailgating and changing lanes frequently at excessive speeds

• Making wide turns, changing lanes or passing without sufficient

clearance

• Overshooting, stopping well before or disregarding signals and signs

• Approaching signals or leaving intersections too quickly or slowly

• Driving with windows open in cold or inclement weather

• Stopping without cause in a live traffic lane

• Driving in a low gear for no apparent reason or frequently grinding

gears

Educating the Public Safety:

• Passenger, rather than driver, should make call

• Drivers who are alone should pull over to make call (i.e. may be necessary to stop, when safe to do so, to place call)

• Public should be encouraged to make calls from locations other than a vehicle (i.e. home, school drinking establishment)

• Public should be informed about impaired driving behaviours to ensure calls are only placed when appropriate and necessary

• Calls should be brief – only the information that is absolutely required should be requested

Educating the Public

Best Practices:

• Call 911 to report possible impaired driver

• Provide location

• Describe the vehicle: licence plate number, colour, make & model

• Provide direction of travel

• Description of driver

Key Responsibilities of Traffic Safety Organizations

• Promote 911 Program to the public

• Raise funds for 911 signage

• Incorporate the 911 Program message into other media campaigns about impaired driving

• Media campaigns to promote 911 program

Radio Public Service Announcement

Telephone call received by MADD Canada

Thanks to your current radio ad campaign, I was aware to call 911 to report an impaired driver after

he hit my car while driving.

Thankfully, I am alive and fine and the idiot has been caught by the local RCMP member. Had it not

been for your radio ads to call 911…I would not have called until after I arrived home.

My life was not affected by this idiot and thanks to

your ad, someone else may still be alive.

Results of 911 Programs

York Region, ON

• Population - 1,062, 000

• 1,776 square kilometres

York Region, ON

Year Calls Charges % of Charges for

911 Calls

Prior to implementation

June 28/06 – June 28/07 1,335 166 12.4%

After implementation

June 28/07 – June 28/08 2,252 310 13.8%

June 28/08 – June 28/09 2,247 330 14.7%

June 28/09 – June 28/10 1,994 298 14.9%

June 28/10 – June 1/11 2,010 265 13.2%

Total 8,503 1,203 14.1%

Average Change +59% +81%

Calgary, AB

• Population - 1,230,248

• 705 square kilometres

Calgary, AB

Number of people charged as a result of 911 calls increased by 28% (268 in 2008/2009 to 343 in 2009/2010)

Month 911 Calls % of Change

after RID Launch Pre-Launch

2008 - 2009

Post-Launch

2009 - 2010

October 341 409 19.9%

November 357 470 31.7%

December 285 486 70.5%

January 255 538 111%

February 246 462 87.8%

March 271 567 109.2%

April 258 557 115.9%

May 303 575 89.8%

June 315 567 80%

July 328 699 113.1%

August 299 570 90.6%

September 309 515 66.7%

First Year 3,567 6,415 79.8%

Saskatoon, SK

• Population - 231,900

• 150 square kilometres

Saskatoon, SK

A total of 107 calls to 911 had no reported outcome

March 12, 2010 – April 30, 2011

Total number of 911 calls 2,955

Number of vehicles intercepted by police 616

% of total 911 calls 21%

Number of driving charges and roadside

suspensions 240

% of vehicles intercepted 39%

Number of letters sent to vehicle owners 1,121

% of letters sent to total number of 911

calls 37.9%

No interception by police 1,111

(37.6%)

Edmonton, AB

• Population - 730,372

• 855 square kilometres

Edmonton, AB Year

2007 2008 2009 2010

Total 911 Calls

8,425 9,425 9,201 9,229

Number of Vehicles

Intercepted 2,587 2,825 2,710

3,392

% of Total 911 Calls

30.7% 30% 29.5% 36.8%

Number of Impaired

Charges and Roadside

Licence Suspensions

995 1,245 1,209 1,174

% of Vehicles Intercepted

38.5% 44.19% 44.6% 34.6%

Number of Letters Sent to

Vehicle Owners 2,406 1,728 1,791 1,192

% of Letters Sent for 911

Calls 28.6% 18.3% 19.5% 12.9%

No Interceptions

3,342 4,872 4,700 4,645

Non-interception Rate for

Total Calls 40.7% 51.7% 51.1% 50.3%

Ottawa, ON

• Population - 917,550

• 513 square kilometres

Ottawa, ON

Call 911 Program started in December of 2009 and resulted in a 43% increase in 911 calls once signage was placed throughout the community.

Year Number of Calls

2005 897

2006 1,079

2007 1,382

2008 1,585

2009 1,829

2010 * 2,610

Camrose, AB

• Population - 17,236

• 31 square kilometres

Camrose, AB

October 2010 – May 2011

Total 911 Calls 192

Number of Vehicles

Intercepted 101

% of Total 911 Calls 52.6%

Number of Impaired Charges

and Roadside Licence

Suspensions

34

% of Vehicles Intercepted 33.7%

Letters/Calls to Vehicle

Owners 23

% of Letters/Calls for 911 Calls 12%

No Interceptions 67

Non-interception Rate for Total

Calls 34.9%

Camrose, AB

Calls Made by Day of Week

Day Calls % of Total Calls

Monday 31 16.1%

Tuesday 20 10.4%

Wednesday 15 7.8%

Thursday 20 10.4%

Friday 28 14.6%

Saturday 40 20.8%

Sunday 33 17.2

Total 187 97.3%

Camrose, AB

Calls Made by Time of Day

Time Calls % of Total Calls

00:00 – 02:59 30 15.6%

03:00 – 05:59 20 10.4%

06:00 – 08:59 2 1%

09:00 – 11:59 12 6.3%

12:00 – 14:59 14 7.3%

15:00 – 17:59 28 14.6%

18:00 – 20:59 34 17.7%

21:00 – 23:59 52 27.1%

Total 192 100%

Other Programs

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia

Sign includes listing of number of charges laid annually

Other Programs

Grey North Bruce, ON

Other Programs

In partnership with Transport Canada, MADD Canada

expanded the Call 911 message to the waterways

• 50 signs installed at

harbours and marinas in:

- British Columbia

- Ontario

- New Brunswick

- Nova Scotia

- Newfoundland

• September 2011 –

Transport Canada

funding for additional

boating signage through

the country

Summary of Data for 911 Programs

1. 911 calls to report suspected impaired drivers increase from 45% to 80% in the first year of implementation

2. Impaired driving charges and roadside licence suspensions increase from 30% to 80%

3. Police interception rates of 911 calls range from 20% to 50%

4. Between 35% and 45% of vehicles intercepted by police are charged with an impaired driving offence

Summary of Data for 911 Programs (cont.)

5. In 12% to 38% of 911 calls, there is enough information to know who the vehicle owner is, even if the vehicle is not intercepted by police

6. Between 35% and 50% of 911 calls do not give enough information to identify the vehicle owner or intercept the vehicle

7. 85% of 911 calls are made between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

8. 70% of 911 calls are made on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday

What’s Working

1. Partnerships

2. Public response to campaign

3. Large, permanent signs on major roads

4. Integration of Call 911 info in all other campaigns

5. Creating the impression among drinking drivers of the likelihood of being caught

6. Program also identifies medically unfit drivers, uninsured drivers and those driving while suspended

What’s Not Working

1. Paid advertising campaigns

2. Small signs, especially on high-speed roads

3. Poor data collection

4. Poor follow-up with letters, telephone calls or personal visits to vehicle owners

Interesting Insight

• Data from the Saint John Police in Saint John, NB offers great insight and some surprising info about vehicles that were reported in a 911 call but are not intercepted by police

• Special thanks to James Stewart, Saint John Police

• Over a 5-year period, the Saint John Police received 3,125 calls to 911 to report suspected impaired drivers • In 12.38% of the 911 calls, enough information is obtained to identify the vehicle owners

Saint John, NB

• 25% of repeat 911 calls come within 30 days of first call

• Over a 10-year period, Saint John had 64 alcohol-related crashes that resulted in fatalities or injuries

• 26 of these vehicles, or 41%, had been previously reported in a 911 call

• Strong need for effective follow-up with vehicle owners to prevent alcohol-related crashes

Repeat Occurrences of 911 Calls For Same Vehicle

2x 3x 4x 5x 6x 7x 8x

163 39 5 7 1 0 1

• Thank You

• Questions?