Citation

Kim JH, Wong A, Goggins WB, Lau J, Griffiths SM. Addiction 2013; 108(7): 1217-1228.

Affiliation

The Jockey Club School of Public Health & Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/add.12116

PMID

23316754

Abstract

AIMS: To investigate the competing effects of increased anti-drink driving legislation and the recent elimination of excise taxes on wine and beer. DESIGN: Serial cross-sectional telephone surveys were conducted in 2006 (n=9860) and 2011 (n=4800). SETTING: Hong Kong, China. PARTICIPANTS: Chinese adults (>18 years of age). MEASUREMENTS: Respondents were asked about their drinking patterns, past-year experience of driving within 2 hours of drinking, drinking-related attitudes and reported deterrents to drink driving. FINDINGS: Following the legislative changes, the age-standardized past-year prevalence of drink driving significantly decreased from 5.2% to 2.8% (p<0.001) among all males, from 9.0% to 4.4% (p<0.001) among male past-year drinkers, and from 13.7% to 8.5% (p<0.01) among male weekly drinkers. The past-year prevalence of drink driving in 2011 among all females (0.08%), female past-year drinkers (1.6%), male binge drinkers (12.5%), female weekly drinkers (4.7%) and female binge drinkers (7.9%) were not significantly different from 2006. Drink driving was independently associated with business sector employment (OR=2.47), past-month binge drinking (OR=6.08), and beliefs in the benefits of drinking to one's well-being (OR=2.62) among males and past-month binge drinking (OR=5.57), belief in the social benefits of drinking (OR=5.66) and being unmarried (OR=3.00) in females (p<0.05). The most commonly reported drink driving deterrents were concerns about random breath tests (93%) and the potential legal consequences of conviction (93.2-98.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Despite greater alcohol consumption in Hong Kong, the current anti-drink driving strategy appears to reduce drink driving in males and prevent increased levels among females. Binge drinkers, however, remain a high-risk group that should be continually monitored.

Language: en