Relationship of Impaired Driving Enforcement Intensity to Drinking and Driving

描述（由申请人提供）： 摘要：虽然在1982年至1997年期间，在减少因酒精受损而导致的致命车祸方面取得了重大进展，但在过去十年中，这一数字停滞不前，每年约有13 000人在这些车祸中丧生。虽然增加、改进和/或提高执法效率最有希望进一步减少酒后驾驶，但执行酒后驾驶法律从来都不是没有代价的，而且必须与其他执法活动竞争，特别是考虑到目前地方和国家预算的经济压力。酒后驾车的减少有多大程度上取决于酒后驾车执法的改善？执法强度的边际增加与驾驶受损减少之间的关系在不同的执法方法中有何不同？决策者，政府官员和社区组织面临这样的政策和预算困境将受益于更好地了解酒后驾车法律的执行和减少受损驾驶之间的关联。随着市，县和州的预算受到当前经济衰退的限制，警察部门的工作量随着国家安全行动的要求而增加，实施高效的DUI执法方法尤为重要。当然，任何社区的目标都是减少因酒精受损的驾驶事故造成的死亡、受伤和财产损失。 本研究建议利用司机BAC和自我报告的数据，从2007年全国路边调查（NRS）的酒后驾驶，并增加这些数据与收集的信息，从警察部门在60个NRS网站上的类型和水平的DUI执法活动在2007年进行，并报告在该管辖区的交通事故。这一独特的数据集将首次对执法强度（采用传统的酒后驾车执法和清醒检查站的措施）与道路上酒后驾车的流行率之间的关系进行探索性评估。那么这两项措施都将与酒精相关的崩溃有关。 这项探索性研究是新颖的，因为它将测量执法计划的目标，这是威慑，更直接地通过更近端的调解变量受损驾驶（通过BAC数据测量的道路上的司机）相比，以前的评估，通常只测量更远的结果碰撞。虽然撞车是一个重要的结果，但由于决定撞车频率的许多非执行因素，它们离执行又远了一步。 了解警察活动如何影响驾驶障碍的发生率，可能有助于解释与正在审查的执法程序相关的撞车事故的不同结果。 公共卫生相关性： 公共卫生相关性：2007年，在41,059起交通死亡事故中，估计有12,998起（32%）涉及受损驾驶员（即，驾驶员的BAC为e.08g/dL）。每年另有51.2万人在与酒精有关的车祸中受伤，与酒精有关的车祸每年给美国社会造成510亿美元的损失。这项研究有望提供新的见解DUI执法的有效性，通过传统的警察巡逻和清醒的检查站有关目前的执法活动水平在这两个领域的道路上受损的司机的患病率和酒精相关的碰撞。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Abstract: Although substantial progress was made in reducing alcohol-impaired driving fatal crashes between 1982 and 1997, the numbers have stalled over the last decade, and approximately 13,000 people are killed each year in these crashes. Although increased, improved and/or more efficient law enforcement holds the most promise for further reducing impaired driving, enforcement of drinking-and-driving laws is never without cost, and it must compete against other law enforcement activities, especially given the current economic strain on local and State budgets. How much of a reduction in drinking and driving would be achieved by how much improvement in impaired-driving law enforcement? How does the relationship between marginal increases in enforcement intensity and reductions in impaired driving differ across enforcement approaches? Decision-makers, public officials, and community organizations facing such policy and budgetary dilemmas would benefit from a better understanding of the association between improvements in the enforcement of drinking-and-driving laws and reductions in impaired driving. With city, county, and state budgets constricted by the current recession and police department workloads being increased with the requirements for national security operations, it is particularly important to implement DUI enforcement methods that are highly efficient. Certainly a goal in any community is to reduce the deaths, injuries, and property damage due to alcohol-impaired driving crashes. This study proposes to take advantage of driver BAC and self-report data on drinking and driving from the 2007 National Roadside Survey (NRS) and augment these data with information collected from police departments operating in the 60 NRS sites regarding the types and levels of DUI enforcement activities conducted in 2007 and reported traffic crashes in that jurisdiction. This unique data set will allow the first such exploratory assessment of the relationship of enforcement intensity (with measures from both traditional DUI enforcement and sobriety checkpoints) to the prevalence of drinking and driving on the roads. Then both of these measures will be related to alcohol-related crashes. This exploratory study is novel in that it will measure the objective of enforcement programs, which is deterrence, more directly through the more proximal mediating variable of impaired driving (as measured through BAC data of drivers on the roads) compared to previous evaluations that have typically only measured the more distal outcome-crashes. Although crashes are an important outcome, they are one step further removed from enforcement by the many non-enforcement factors that determine crash frequency. Understanding how police activities affect the prevalence of impaired driving may help explain differential outcomes on crashes that have been associated with the enforcement procedures being examined. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Public Health Relevance: In 2007, an estimated 12,998 (32%) of the 41,059 traffic fatalities involved an impaired driver (i.e., the driver's BAC was e.08 g/dL). An additional 512,000 people are injured in alcohol-related crashes each year, and alcohol- related crashes cost the U.S. society $51 billion annually. This study promises to provide new insights into the effectiveness of DUI enforcement through traditional police patrols and sobriety checkpoints by relating current enforcement activity levels in both areas to the prevalence of impaired drivers on the road and to alcohol-related crashes.