Citation

Borschos B. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 2000; 2000: -p..

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

Today there are two levels of drunken driving in Sweden (drunken driving and aggravated drunken driving). In the year 1990 the lower BAC (blood alcohol content) limit was reduced from 0.05 to 0.02 percent. Some years later, in 1994, the upper BAC limit was also reduced from 0.15 to 0.10 percent. In addition, the maximum penalty for aggravated drunken driving was increased and the police got more far-reaching possibilities of control. This study examines the effects of the most recent drunken driving legislation on fatal road-traffic accidents and road-traffic accidents with severe personal injury. The assessment of the effect is carried out by ARIMA analysis on monthly data for 1986 to 1997. The models include alcohol sales (measure of alcohol consumption) and delivery of petrol to retailers (measure of traffic density) as well as the two legislative reforms implemented in 1990 and 1994. The analysis showed a significant reduction of fatal road-traffic accidents depending on the 1990 and 1994 legislation. The results concerning road-traffic accidents with severe personal injury are more unstable, but the results point in the same direction.