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.

Efficacy and cost-effectiveness of subsidized ridesharing as a drunk driving intervention in Columbus, OH.

Background: No economic evaluations exist of free or subsidized ridesharing services designed to reduce impaired driving.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects and economics of a 17-weekend program that provided rideshare coupons good for free one-way or round trips to/from the hospitality zones in Columbus, Ohio, coupled with a modest increase in enforcement and a media campaign that used messaging about enforcement to promote usage.

Methods: Web surveys of riders and intercept surveys of foot traffic in the hospitality zones yielded data on the reduction in driving after drinking and the change in alcohol consumption associated with coupon use.

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.

The effects of primary enforcement laws and fine levels on seat belt usage in the United States.

Background: Seat belt use in the United States increased from 11 percent in 1979 to 86 percent in 2012. Most of this increase has been attributed to seat belt laws, primary law upgrades, and highly visible enforcement. There has been less research on the effect of fines on seat belt usage.

Ethylglucuronide in hair is a top predictor of impaired driving recidivism, alcohol dependence, and a key marker of the highest BAC interlock tests.

Objectives: This study focuses on the predictive and comparative significance of ethyl glucuronide measured in head hair (hEtG) for estimating risks associated with alcohol-impaired driving offenders. Earlier work compared different alcohol biomarkers for estimating rates of failed blood alcohol concentration (BAC) tests logged during 8 months of interlock participation. These analyses evaluate the comparative performance of several alcohol markers including hEtG and other markers, past driver records, and psychometric assessment predictors for the detection of 4 criteria: new driving under the influence (DUI) recidivism, alcohol dependence, and interlock record variables including fail rates and maximal interlock BACs logged.

Administrative reinstatement interlock programs: Florida, a 10-year study.

Background: Interlocks reduce driving-under-the-influence (DUI) recidivism by 64%, but offenders resist installing them, preferring to risk driving while their driver's licenses are revoked. One method of motivating offenders to install an interlock is require it for reinstatement of their driver's license. This report updates an earlier evaluation of the administrative reinstatement interlock program (ARIP) procedure implemented in Florida in 2002.

An Evaluation of Three Driving-Under-the-Influence Courts in Georgia.

Following the model of Drug Courts, three Georgia Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) Courts (established in Chatham, Clarke, and Hall Counties in 2003) were designed to address the underlying alcohol problems of repeat DUI offenders through continuous and frequent judicially supervised treatment, periodic alcohol and other drug testing, the use of graduated sanctions, and other appropriate rehabilitative services. A team comprised of a judge, court personnel, probation officials, and treatment providers met regularly to assess offender progress, and offenders met biweekly with the judge to report their progress. An impact evaluation showed after 4 years of exposure that when the DUI Court graduates were combined with the DUI Court terminated offenders (Intent to Treat Group), the DUI Court offenders had significantly lower recidivism rates: 38 percent lower than a Contemporary Group of offenders and 65 percent lower than a Retrospective Group of offenders.

An Evaluation of Three Intensive Supervision Programs for Serious DWI Offenders.

There are many variations of supervision and probation programs for driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) offenders. These programs include case-specific restrictions (e.g.

An Evaluation of Three Driving-Under-the-Influence Courts in Georgia.

Following the model of Drug Courts, three Georgia Driving-Under-the-Influence (DUI) Courts (established in Chatham, Clarke, and Hall Counties in 2003) were designed to address the underlying alcohol problems of repeat DUI offenders through continuous and frequent judicially supervised treatment, periodic alcohol and other drug testing, the use of graduated sanctions, and other appropriate rehabilitative services. A team comprised of a judge, court personnel, probation officials, and treatment providers met regularly to assess offender progress, and offenders met biweekly with the judge to report their progress. An impact evaluation showed that after 4 years of exposure, the DUI Court graduates (Treatment Group) had a significantly lower recidivism rate: 9 percent compared to 24 percent for a group of matched offenders from three similar counties in Georgia (Contemporary Group) and a 35 percent rate for matched offenders from the same counties as the DUI Court who would have been eligible for the DUI Court had it been in existence (Retrospective Group).

DUI offenders delay license reinstatement: a problem?

Background: We examined the extent to which driving under the influence (DUI) offenders delay reinstatement, the reasons for that delay, and the relationship of the delay to recidivism. Analyzed were the driving records of 40 million drivers (3 million convicted of DUI) from 7 of the largest states spanning 7 to 14 years. License suspension effectively reduces, but does not eliminate, impaired driving.

Fatal traffic crashes involving drinking drivers: what have we learned?

Alcohol involvement in fatal crashes (any driver with a blood alcohol concentration [BAC] = .01g/dL or greater) in 2007 was more than three times higher at night (6 p.m.

The impact of underage drinking laws on alcohol-related fatal crashes of young drivers.

Background: This study used a pre- to post-design to evaluate the influence on drinking-and-driving fatal crashes of 6 laws directed at youth aged 20 and younger and 4 laws targeting all drivers.

Methods: Data on the laws were drawn from the Alcohol Policy Information System data set (1998 to 2005), the Digests of State Alcohol Highway Safety Related Legislation (1983 to 2006), and the Westlaw database. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System data set (1982 to 2004) was used to assess the ratio of drinking to nondrinking drivers involved in fatal crashes [fatal crash incidence ratio (CIR)].

Evaluation of seven publicized enforcement demonstration programs to reduce impaired driving: Georgia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Indiana, and Michigan.

Between 2000 and 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) funded demonstration projects designed to reduce impaired driving through well-publicized and frequent enforcement in seven States: Georgia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Indiana, and Michigan. Significant reductions in fatal crashes in the intervention States relative to surrounding States were obtained in Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana and Michigan when an interrupted time-series analysis of Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data was used comparing the ratio of drinking to non-drinking drivers in fatal crashes. Significant reductions in a second measure, alcohol-related fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), were also obtained in Indiana and Michigan.

The relationship of underage drinking laws to reductions in drinking drivers in fatal crashes in the United States.

This study reports on an effort to evaluate and interrelate the existence and strength of two core laws and 14 expanded laws designed to (a) control the sales of alcohol, (b) prevent possession and consumption of alcohol, and (c) prevent alcohol impaired driving by youth aged 20 and younger. Our first analysis determined if the enactment of the possession and purchase laws (the two core minimum legal drinking age laws) was associated with a reduction in the ratio of drinking to nondrinking drivers aged 20 and younger who were involved in fatal crashes controlling for as many variables as possible. The ANOVA results suggest that in the presence of numerous covariates, the possession and purchase laws account for an 11.

The relationship of 16 underage drinking laws to reductions in underage drinking drivers in fatal crashes in the United States.

The minimum legal drinking age 21 (MLDA 21) legislation in the United States (U.S.) has been documented as one of the most effective public health measures adopted in recent times.

Impact of primary safety belt laws on alcohol-related front-seat occupant fatalities: five case studies.

Objective: Impaired drivers and other high-risk road users are less likely to use their safety belts, thus increasing the risk of fatal injury in the event of a crash. Although safety belt laws have been shown to increase wearing rates for daytime non-crash-involved drivers and their front-seat passengers, little evidence is available on the effect these laws have on belt usage by crash-involved drinking drivers and their passengers.

Methods: This study evaluated the influence of primary safety belt law upgrades from secondary laws on front-seat occupants of passenger cars driven by drinking drivers in fatal crashes in five states: California, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, and Washington.

Alcohol involvement in fatal crashes under three crash exposure measures.

Objective: A common method of normalizing crash fatality data for comparing subgroups of drivers has been the estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Unfortunately, the VMT method fails to provide for exposure to risks such as those related to alcohol consumption (among others). Recently, the "crash incidence ratio" (CIR) has been introduced to address some of these limitations.

A partial ban on sales to reduce high-risk drinking South of the border: seven years later.

Objective: On weekend evenings, thousands of youths (ages 20 and younger) and young adults (ages 21-25) residing in communities along the U.S. border cross into Mexico to patronize all-night bars where the drinking age is 18, rather than 21, and where the price of alcohol is considerably less than in the United States.

Drinking status and fatal crashes: which drinkers contribute most to the problem?

Objective: The object of this study was to estimate the relative contribution of various classes of drinkers (including those with alcohol-use disorders) to alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes.

Method: Using the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions conducted in 2000, the percentage of state residents falling into six nonoverlapping alcohol-user categories-dependent drinkers, abusive drinkers, dependent and abusive drinkers, heavy episodic drinkers, current normative drinkers, and current nondrinkers- was determined based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, classifications. The percentage of residents in each state in each of these user categories and their relationships to the number of drinking drivers involved in fatal crashes in that state were determined through regression analysis using data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

The impact of mandatory versus voluntary participation in the Alberta ignition interlock program.

Research has demonstrated that participation in an interlock program significantly reduces the likelihood of subsequent driving while intoxicated (DWI) convictions at least so long as the interlock device is installed in the vehicle. Despite the growing number of jurisdictions that allow interlock programs and the demonstrated success of these programs, the proportion of DWI offenders who actually have the device installed is minimal. In an effort to increase the proportion of offenders using interlocks, some jurisdictions require offenders to install an interlock as a condition of license reinstatement whereas others merely offer offenders a reduction in the period of hard suspension if they voluntarily participate in an interlock program.

The alcohol interlock: an underutilized resource for predicting and controlling drunk drivers.

This report summarizes evidence presented during the Third Annual Ignition Interlock Symposium at Vero Beach, Florida, 29 October 2002. The ignition interlock prevents a car from starting when blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is elevated. We review some of our prior work as well as introduce previously unpublished results to demonstrate the manner in which the data recorded by the alcohol ignition interlock device can serve as an advance predictor of future driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol risks.

Language, income, education, and alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes.

This paper investigates the role of race/ethnicity, language skills (a proxy for acculturation among Hispanics in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas), income, and education level on alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. Using the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), we confirmed previous state-based studies showing that high income and education levels have a protective influence on alcohol-related fatal motor vehicle crashes. We also confirmed that language proficiency/acculturation tends to increase the vulnerability of Hispanic women to alcohol-related fatalities.

Minimum purchasing age for alcohol and traffic crash injuries among 15- to 19-year-olds in New Zealand.

Objectives: In 1999, New Zealand lowered the minimum purchasing age for alcohol from 20 to 18 years. We tested the hypothesis that this increased traffic crash injuries among 15- to 19-year-olds.

Methods: Poisson regression was used to compute incidence rate ratios for the after to before incidence of alcohol-involved crashes and hospitalized injuries among 18- to 19-year-olds and 15- to 17-year-olds (20- to 24-year-olds were the reference).

Evaluation of four state impaired driving enforcement demonstration programs: Georgia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Louisiana.

This study provided a consolidated evaluation of four separate demonstration projects aimed at reducing impaired driving through well-publicized enforcement. Each of the four demonstration projects used different enforcement approaches in an effort to reduce impaired driving crashes in the State. Georgia experienced a significant decrease in drinking-and-driving fatal crashes (14 percent using a ratio measure in a time series analysis).

A meta-analysis of .08 BAC laws in 19 jurisdictions in the United States.

More than a dozen studies on the effectiveness of the .08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC) laws have been published; however, those studies have varied both in the statistical methods and the type of outcome measure used, so it is difficult to integrate the findings into an overall estimate of the effectiveness of the law. This study used a consistent outcome measure, drinking drivers in fatal crashes and an identical methodology time-series analysis, to analyze the introduction of the .