Citation

Popkin CL, Lacey JH. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1985; 29: 23-38.

Affiliation

University of North Carolina, Highway Safety Research Center, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This is a study of the impact of the North Carolina Safe Roads Act (SRA) of 1983. The law made dramatic revisions to the drunk driving law including raising the drinking age, short-term license revocation at the time of arrest, mandatory jail sanctions, elimination of plea bargaining and more uniformity in sanctioning. This study had four major components: 1) surveys of practitioners in the driving while impaired (DWI) control system to measure their perceptions about system changes; 2) courtroom observations and face to face interviews of DWI control system practitioners; 3) surveys of the public perception of the risk of arrest for DWI; and 4) analyses of state level crash, DWI arrest and conviction data.

Findings indicate that the new law with its attendant publicity seems to have resulted in a reduction in alcohol-related (A/R) crashes in North Carolina. Likewise, findings suggest that the public perceives a greater risk of arrest. Dispositions reported to the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) indicate a higher conviction rate for DWI under the new law and sanctioning patterns similar to the legislative intent. Problems resulting from implementation of the law include overcrowding in jails and increased paperwork for the courts.