THE EFFECT OF RANDOM ALCOHOL SCREENING IN REDUCING MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH INJURIES
Programs that randomly stop drivers to detect alcohol use have been introduced as a deterrence measure for drinking and driving. The objective of this review is to determine if this random screening reduces fatalities and injuries. The two types of random screening programs incuded are Random Breath Testing and Sobriety Checkpoints. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. All fourteen studies found that random screening was effective in reducing fatalities and injuries. The decreases found had wide variation, but did not depend on the size of the population. Alcohol-related fatalities generally showed the greatest decreases, ranging from 8% to 71%. The few multivariate analyses showed that random screening significantly reduced crashes and injuries. Random screening appears to be effective in a wide range of both United States and Australian populations. Although there are many limitations to the studies reviewed, such as the difficulty in determining alcohol involvement and the inability to control for the presence of other drunk driving reduction programs, the weight of the evidence indicates that random screening reduces fatalities and injuries. There was some disagreement among studies as to how long the effects of random alcohol screening can be sustained and the level of enforcement necessary, and these remain questions to be answered.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/07493797
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Corporate Authors:
Oxford University Press
Journals Subscription Department, 2001 Evans Road
Cary, NC United States 27513 -
Authors:
- Peek-Asa, C
- Publication Date: 1999-1
Language
- English
Media Info
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: p. 57-67
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Serial:
- American Journal of Preventive Medicine
- Volume: 16
- Issue Number: 1S
- Publisher: Elsevier
- ISSN: 0749-3797
- Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/07493797
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Alcohol breath tests; Alcohol tests; Alcohol use; Drunk driving; Fatalities; Injuries; Random sampling; Sobriety checkpoints; Traffic crashes
- Geographic Terms: Australia; United States
- Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00764869
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: Supplement
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Jun 16 1999 12:00AM