THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG DRIVING WHILE IMPAIRED CHARGES, POLICE DRINKING-DRIVING ROADCHECK ACTIVITY, MEDIA COVERAGE AND ALCOHOL-RELATED CASUALTY TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

A Correlational examination of 54 consecutive months of data from British Columbia on the relationships among the number of vehicles checked in police drinking-driving roadchecks, the number of driving while impaired (DWI) charges laid, the number and precent of alcohol-related casualty traffic accidents, and the extent of media coverage on drinking-driving (as measured by print media coverage), revealed that: the extent of media coverage, and not the extent of roadchecks or charging activity is probably the critical element in the reduction of drinking-driving accidents. The failure of the minimally publicized April-May 1984 British Columbia police roadcheck 'blitz' to reduce either the number or proportion of alcohol-related casualty traffic accidents lent support to these correlational findings.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00014575
• Corporate Authors:

  Pergamon Press, Incorporated

  Headington Hill Hall
  Oxford OX30BW,    
• Authors:
  • MERCER, G W
• Publication Date: 1985-12

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 467-474
• Serial:
  • Accident Analysis & Prevention
  • Volume: 17
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0001-4575
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00014575

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcoholic beverages; Drunk drivers; Drunk driving; Impaired drivers; Mass media; Measures of effectiveness; Police; Publicity; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Effectiveness
• Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00495744
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-039 633
• Files: HSL, USDOT
• Created Date: Jul 31 1990 12:00AM