Citation

Council F. Proc. Am. Assoc. Automot. Med. Annu. Conf. 1981; 25: 145-159.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

While various countermeasures ranging from warning letters to group and individual therapy sessions have been implemented in an attempt to reduce the frequency of alcohol-related crashes, the problem of the drinking driver still exists. The one countermeasure which appears to be beneficial is the suspension and revocation of driver licenses. However, without the apprehension, prosecution and conviction of an offender, such a countermeasure cannot be implemented. With the advent of accurate breath and blood testing procedures, innovations in and emphasis on enforcement programs, and implied consent legislation virtually forcing apprehended drivers to undergo testing, the apprehension part of the countermeasure chain has become more efficient. However, the adjudication of DUI cases has often not met with the same success. In North Carolina a recent study has indicated that DUI conviction rates (for drivers with BACs greater than 0.10) vary from 41.5 percent to 95.3 percent over the 100 counties. Given this variance in conviction rate, the question of interest in this paper is whether a publicized prosecution policy resulting in a higher conviction rate can act as a deterrent to alcohol-related crashes. In the analysis conducted, counties with both high and low conviction rates were compared using both a matched comparison analysis and various types of regression analyses. Because of the imperfection of the "natural experiment" and the limited strength of the relationship, no strong conclusions can be drawn. However, the results of the analyses do indicate consistent trends toward a relationship between conviction rate and A/R collisions. Basically, the districts characterized by higher conviction rates were also characterized by lower alcohol-related crash rates. However, given this new support for such a relationship, there is a strong possibility of less future emphasis on DUI convictions due to society's requirements for speedy trials and due to reduction in prosecution budgets. The possible place of the physician, the highway safety researcher, and the safety program administrator as a "special interest group" guarding against future declines in effectiveness is noted.