Convicted drinking and driving offenders: Comparing alcohol use before and after the pandemic outbreak.

Background: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, very little was known about the impact of social isolation on individuals' alcohol use and misuse. This study examines how socially isolated individuals with a history of heavy drinking used alcohol during the pandemic.

Methods: Data for this study came from an add-on to the Managing Heavy Drinking (MHD) longitudinal study of drivers convicted of DWI that was conducted in Erie County, New York.

Understanding non-installers of the ignition interlock device: A qualitative analysis.

Introduction: Literature notes the efficacious use of alcohol ignition interlock devices (IID) in reducing rates of drinking and driving while installed on the vehicle. Some drivers who are convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) elect to have their license suspended/revoked instead of installing the device. These individuals represent a high-risk subsample of drivers, yet limited literature has addressed this concern.

Changes in Alcohol Use and Drinking and Driving Outcomes From Before Arrest for Driving Under the Influence to After Interlock Removal.

Background: Half of the offenders convicted of impaired driving in the United States are sentenced to install alcohol ignition interlock devices (IIDs), which prevent them from starting their vehicles if they have been drinking. No research has yet explored offenders' patterns of alcohol consumption and driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) from the time before the arrest to the time period after the IID is installed. This study aims to fill that gap in knowledge.

Alcohol-Related Risk of Driver Fatalities in Motor Vehicle Crashes: Comparing Data From 2007 and 2013-2014.

Objective: Using data from 2013-2014, this article aims to update alcohol-related fatal crash relative risk estimates, defined as the risk of dying in those crashes at different blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) relative to the risk of dying in a crash when sober (BAC = .00 g/dl), and to examine any change in risk that could have taken place between 2007 and 2013-2014. More specifically, we examine changes in risk among BAC = .

Methods for investigating crash risk: Comparing case-control with responsibility analysis.

Objective: There are 2 primary methods for establishing relative risk: case-control studies, in which crash and matched control data are collected separately, and responsibility analysis, which exploits a single existing crash database by using nonresponsible drivers as an "induced exposure" control group (which is less expensive and therefore more feasible for examining the large number of substances that can impact driving behavior). Though both approaches are scientifically sound and methodologically valid, each approach has its own inherent obstacles to overcome. In this article, we examine in detail how different criteria for the development of control cases influence the accuracy of crash risk estimates for drivers with positive blood alcohol concentrations (BACs).

Association of State Alcohol Policies With Alcohol-Related Motor Vehicle Crash Fatalities Among US Adults.

Importance: Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of mortality. However, the association between the restrictiveness of the alcohol policy environment (ie, based on multiple existing policies) and alcohol-related crash fatalities has not been characterized previously to date.

Objective: To examine the association between the restrictiveness of state alcohol policy environments and the likelihood of alcohol involvement among those dying in motor vehicle crashes in the United States.

Drivers with alcohol use disorders and their risks of crash involvement.

Background: The relationship between driver blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and crash involvement is well understood. However, the role of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) (i.e.

Intercorrelation of Alcohol and Other Drug Use Disorders among a National Sample of Drivers.

This study examined the relationship between alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and painkiller use disorders in a sample of drivers. We studied nighttime drivers aged 16 to 87 (n = 4,277) from the 2007 National Roadside Survey who reported substance use behaviors and provided breath tests for alcohol. Logistic regression analyses assessed the relationships between (1) substance (i.

Cannabis and crash responsibility while driving below the alcohol per se legal limit.

There is a growing interest in how extensively the use of marijuana by drivers relates to crash involvement. While cognitive, lab-based studies are consistent in showing that the use of cannabis impairs driving tasks, epidemiological, field-based studies have been inconclusive regarding whether cannabis use causes an increased risk of accidents. There is ample evidence that the presence of cannabis among drivers with a BAC≥0.

Marijuana and the Risk of Fatal Car Crashes: What Can We Learn from FARS and NRS Data?

Lab studies have shown that marijuana can severely impair driving skills. Epidemiological studies, however, have been inconclusive regarding the contribution of marijuana use to crash risk. In the United States, case-control studies based on the merging of comparable crash Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and non-crash National Roadside Survey (NRS) data have been applied to assess the contribution of drugs to crash risk, but these studies have yielded confusing, even contradictory results.

Alcohol Policies and Alcohol-Related Motor Vehicle Crash Fatalities Among Young People in the US.

Background: Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are a leading cause of death among young people in the United States. We examined the relationship between states' alcohol policy environments and alcohol-related MVC fatalities among children, adolescents, and young adults under the minimum legal drinking age of 21 years.

Methods: We used the Alcohol Policy Scale (APS), an assessment of 29 alcohol policies across 50 states and Washington, DC, developed with the assistance of an interdisciplinary Delphi panel.

Mandating Treatment Based on Interlock Performance: Evidence for Effectiveness.

Background: Vehicle alcohol ignition interlocks reduce alcohol-impaired driving recidivism while installed, but recidivism reduction does not continue after removal. It has been suggested that integrating alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment with interlock programs might extend the effectiveness of interlocks in reducing recidivism beyond their removal. This study evaluated the first implementation of a Florida policy mandating AUD treatment for driving under the influence (DUI) offenders on interlocks.

Drinking group characteristics related to willingness to engage in protective behaviors with the group at nightclubs.

Electronic music dance events (EMDEs) in nightclubs are settings where young adults tend to engage in high-risk behaviors, such as heavy alcohol and drug use. Consequences of these behaviors may be prevented if young adults engage in protective strategies with their drinking group. It is important to identify drinking group characteristics that predict willingness to intervene with peers.

Assessing the Impact of Twenty Underage Drinking Laws.

Objective: Over the last two decades, many states have adopted several of the 20 laws that aim to control youth access to and possession of alcohol and prevent underage drinking in the United States. However, many of these laws have not been evaluated since their adoption. The objective of this study was to determine which minimum legal drinking age 21 (MLDA-21) laws currently have an effect on underage drinking-and-driving fatal crashes.

Can progress in reducing alcohol-impaired driving fatalities be resumed? Results of a workshop sponsored by the Transportation Research Board, Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Transportation Committee (ANB50).

Objective: Despite successes in the 1980s and early 1990s, progress in reducing impaired driving fatalities in the United States has stagnated in recent years. Since 1997, the percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes with illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels has remained at approximately 20 to 22%. Many experts believe that public complacency, competing social and public health issues, and the lack of political fortitude have all contributed to this stagnation.

Effects of Dram Shop, Responsible Beverage Service Training, and State Alcohol Control Laws on Underage Drinking Driver Fatal Crash Ratios.

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to determine whether three minimum legal drinking age 21 (MLDA-21) laws-dram shop liability, responsible beverage service (RBS) training, and state control of alcohol sales-have had an impact on underage drinking and driving fatal crashes using annual state-level data, and compared states with strong laws to those with weak laws to examine their effect on beer consumption and fatal crash ratios.

Methods: Using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, we calculated the ratio of drinking to nondrinking drivers under age 21 involved in fatal crashes as our key outcome measure. We used structural equation modeling to evaluate the three MLDA-21 laws.

Enhancing the Use of Vehicle Alcohol Interlocks With Emerging Technology.

Among the earliest applications of health technologies to a safety program was the development of blood alcohol content (BAC) tests for use in impaired-driving enforcement. This led to the development of miniature, highly accurate devices that officers could carry in their pockets. A natural extension of this technology was the vehicle alcohol interlock, which is used to reduce recidivism among drivers convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) by requiring them to install the devices (which will not allow someone with a positive BAC to drive) on their vehicles.

Relationship of impaired-driving enforcement intensity to drinking and driving on the roads.

Background: It is principally the area of enforcement that offers the greatest opportunity for reducing alcohol-impaired driving in the near future. How much of a reduction in drinking and driving would be achieved by how much improvement in enforcement intensity?

Methods: We developed logistic regression models to explore how enforcement intensity (6 different measures) related to the prevalence of weekend nighttime drivers in the 2007 National Roadside Survey who had been drinking (blood alcohol concentration [BAC] ≥ 0.00 g/dl), who had BACs ≥ 0.

Effectiveness of social host and fake identification laws on reducing underage drinking driver fatal crashes.

Objective: The public generally assumes that the minimum legal drinking age of 21 (MLDA-21) legislation in the United States is embodied in a single law and therefore all states have the same law. Actually, the MLDA-21 state laws consist of multiple provisions that support the core MLDA-21 laws and include a family of policies directed at controlling underage drinking and underage drinking and driving. Because social host and fake identification laws have recently garnered interest by policy makers in the states, this study was designed to determine their effectiveness.

Effects of enforcement intensity on alcohol impaired driving crashes.

Background: Research measuring levels of enforcement has investigated whether increases in police activities (e.g., checkpoints, driving-while-intoxicated [DWI] special patrols) above some baseline level are associated with reduced crashes and fatalities.

DUI offenders' experience with an ignition interlock program: comparing those who have and have not adapted from their primary drinking location.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare driving under the influence (DUI) offenders on an alcohol ignition interlock program who had or had not changed their primary drinking context from a bar/restaurant where they might be required to drive after drinking before the interlock was installed to drinking at home where driving would not be likely to be required following interlock installation.

Methods: A total of 171 DUI offenders who were on an ignition interlock program completed a web-based survey. All of these offenders reported that they drank primarily in a bar/restaurant before the interlock was installed.

The effectiveness of a 0.05 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving in the United States.

The National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that states establish a per se blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit of 0.05 or lower for all drivers who are not already required to adhere to lower BAC limits in a national effort to reduce alcohol-impaired driving. There is strong evidence for adopting this recommendation.

Indicators of club management practices and biological measurements of patrons' drug and alcohol use.

Background: Electronic music and dance events in nightclubs attract patrons with heavy alcohol/drug use. Public health concerns are raised from risks related to these behaviors. Practices associated with increased risk in these club settings need to be identified.