During the 1980s and 1990s, important progress was made toward reducing serious crashes and deaths involving drivers under the influence of alcohol. According to a recent publication by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), worldwide progress has stalled and hasn’t revived. Making further progress will require new ways of thinking about existing countermeasures and incorporating new technology. To read IIHS’s special Status Report on the alcohol-impaired driving problem worldwide and what to do about it, click on http://www.iihs.org/sr/pdfs/sr4004.pdf.
A joint study by researchers at the University of Florida and the University of Minnesota indicates that the greatest deterrent to sale of alcohol to minors is regular police enforcement of liquor laws within licensed establishments. Results of the 5-year national study show that consistent, regular enforcement is necessary to deter alcohol sales to minors. The results of the study appear in the March 2005 edition of Addiction. To view the abstract, click on http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00973.x/abs/.
The June 10, 2004 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) (Vol. 53:21, pp. 452-454) contains an analysis of a Concord, New Hampshire, enforcement campaign. The program has three components: quarterly compliance checks from 2002 to 2004, increased penalties for noncompliance, and media coverage of the enforcement campaign. The campaign resulted in a 64 percent reduction in retail alcohol sales to underage youths and was associated with declines in alcohol use and binge drinking among Concord high school students. The full MMWR report is at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5321a2.htm.
Research results released by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation show that if law enforcement agencies used sobriety checkpoints more often and more effectively, deaths and crashes caused by drunk driving could be reduced by 20 percent. The study discusses how to improve the use of checkpoints (e.g., increase publicity in local media, conduct checkpoints more often such as weekly, deploy fewer officers at checkpoints, and use passive alcohol sensors, which can be installed in flashlights). The report was published in the September 2004 issue of Traffic Injury Prevention. For more information, see http://releases.usnewswire.com/getrelease.asp?id=36600.