Relationship of Impaired Driving Enforcement Intensity to Drinking and Driving

描述(由申请人提供)： 摘要：尽管1982至1997年间在减少酒后驾车致死事故方面取得了实质性进展，但在过去十年中，这一数字一直停滞不前，每年约有13,000人死于这些车祸。虽然加强、改进和/或更有效的执法对进一步减少受损驾驶最有希望，但酒后驾车法律的执行并非没有成本，它必须与其他执法活动竞争，特别是考虑到目前地方和州预算的经济压力。通过对受损驾驶执法的改善，酒后驾车的减少会有多大？在不同的执法方法中，执法强度的边际增加和受损驾驶的减少之间的关系有何不同？面对这种政策和预算困境的决策者、公职人员和社区组织将受益于更好地了解改善酒后驾车法律执行与减少受损驾驶之间的联系。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，实施高效的酒后驾车执法方法尤为重要。当然，任何社区的目标都是减少酒后驾车造成的死亡、受伤和财产损失。这项研究建议利用2007年全国路边调查(NRS)中关于酒后驾车的司机BAC和自我报告数据，并利用从60个NRS地点的警察部门收集的关于2007年进行的酒后驾车执法活动的类型和水平以及在该司法管辖区报告的交通事故的信息来补充这些数据。这一独特的数据集将首次对执法强度(包括传统的酒后驾车执法和戒酒检查站的措施)与道路上酒后驾车普及率的关系进行此类探索性评估。那么这两项措施都将与酒精相关的撞车事故有关。这项探索性研究具有新颖性，因为它将衡量执法计划的目标，即威慑，更直接地通过更近的驾驶受损中介变量(通过道路上司机的BAC数据来衡量)，而不是以前的评估，后者通常只衡量更远的结果-撞车。尽管撞车事故是一个重要的结果，但由于许多决定撞车频率的非执法因素，它们进一步远离了执法。了解警察活动如何影响受损驾驶的流行率，可能有助于解释与正在审查的执法程序有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起交通事故死亡中，估计有12,998起(32%)涉及受损的司机(即司机的BAC为e.08g/dL)。每年还有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。这项研究承诺通过传统的警察巡逻和戒酒检查站，通过将这两个地区目前的执法活动水平与道路上受损司机的流行率和与酒精有关的撞车事件联系起来，为酒后驾车执法的有效性提供新的见解。

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.