Impaired driving

Program to assess and reduce the risk of impaired driving⁠ (PERRCCA) (website in French only)⁠ ⁠

PERRCCA involves the following elements, depending on the situation:

• A risk assessment, comprehensive assessment and initial assessment to determine whether your relationship with alcohol and drugs compromises the safe operation of a road vehicle. Each assessment includes a structured 90-minute interview, including psychometric tests to establish your profile.
• A maintenance assessment, to determine whether you have maintained your progress with regard to safe driving and reduced your risk of impaired driving. It includes a structured 90-minute interview, including psychometric tests to establish your profile.
• A comprehensive assessment, to help you develop and maintain safe behaviours to reduce the risk of impaired driving. It takes place over a period of six to nine months and includes three meetings:
  • The first meeting is a structured interview including psychometric tests to establish your profile;
  • The second meeting helps implement a minimum six-month supervision plan, which begins once it is signed; over the course of this meeting, objectives and methods are established to ensure that alcohol and drugs no longer compromise safe driving;
  • The third meeting determines whether the objectives of the plan have been reached

In addition to the comprehensive assessment, the SAAQ requests a medical assessment report.

To undergo the assessment, you must register and pay the required fees to our partner in charge of carrying out PERRCCA assessments.

At the end of the assessment, we will receive a final report indicating whether you are capable of dissociating the use of alcohol, drugs or medication from the safe operation of a road vehicle. You will also receive a copy of this report. It is one of the elements in your file that allows us to render a decision, whether favourable or unfavourable, to issue you a new licence.

Alcofrein program

This program is for people who obtain a favourable decision after the comprehensive assessment for a first impaired driving offence over a ten-year period or with a blood alcohol concentration equal to or in excess of 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood but less than 160 mg. An Alcofrein session lasts three hours and aims to:

• increase drivers’ awareness of the effects of alcohol, drugs and medication on driving so that they adopt responsible behaviours on the road
• prevent repeat offences
• remind participants of the legal, social and financial consequences of impaired driving

Québec’s alcohol ignition interlock device program 

This program aims to ensure the safety of all road users by monitoring drivers whose behaviour represents a road safety risk. It is managed by an authorized supplier under the SAAQ’s responsibility.

It relaxes the driving prohibition (restricted licence – alcohol) after a conviction, after the absolute driving prohibition period and at other moments during the PERRCCA assessments (licence bearing Condition X, voluntary participation).

The program is mandatory (licence bearing Condition X – mandatory participation) for a period of one, two or three years, depending on the offence(s) committed over a ten-year period (except for individuals participating in the Alcofrein program). You can obtain a licence bearing Condition X after meeting the requirements of the PERRCCA program and submitting a medical report. The period during which you are required to participate in the program begins when you obtain a valid licence and have an alcohol ignition interlock device installed in your vehicle. If one of these two conditions is not respected for one or more days, these days are not included in the mandatory period.