State Alcohol Ignition Interlock Laws and Fatal Crashes

This report analyzes crash data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to evaluate alcohol ignition interlock laws in the United States. Fatal crashes between 2001-2004 in which the drivers were alcohol-impaired were compared across State and time. Interlock laws vary by State and in this study are categorized as interlocks required for: (1) no specific class of offender (referred to as none or no law), (2) repeat offenders, (3) repeat offenders and high-blood alcohol concentration (BAC) offenders, or (4) all offenders. During the study period, all-offender interlock laws increased from three States in 2001 to 22 States in 2014. The number of States with any of the three laws increased from 19 States in 2001 to 45 States in 2014. Overall, it was found that all-offender laws reduced impaired driving fatal crashes (16% fewer drivers with BAC 0.08+ g/dL) as compared with no law. Repeat-offender laws were associated with a 3% reduction in impaired drivers in fatal crashes; and repeat and high-BAC laws were associated with an 8% reduction.

• Record URL:
  http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/documents/masterfiledocs.ashx?id=2156
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

  Arlington, VA  United States 
• Authors:
  • Teoh, Eric R
  • Fell, James C
  • Scherer, Michael
  • Wolfe, Danielle E R
• Publication Date: 2018-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohol ignition interlock devices; Blood alcohol levels; Crash rates; Fatalities; Offenders; State laws; Trend (Statistics)
• Identifier Terms: Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01684873
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 31 2018 2:49PM