EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ILLINOIS .08 LAW: AN UPDATE WITH 1999 FARS DATA

In December 2000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a report on the effectiveness of the .08 law implemented by Illinois in July 1997. That report covered data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) through 1998. It indicated that there was evidence that the .08 law reduced the number of drinking drivers in fatal crashes by 13.7%. Although the number of alcohol-related fatalities increased in Illinois in 1999, these levels remained considerably lower than projections based on trends from before the change in the law. This current analysis used the additional 12 months of FARS data now available to determine whether there was evidence to indicate that the .08 law was still having an effect in Illinois. The results, using a covariate analysis over a 30-month period, reaffirm the findings of the original analysis of the effectiveness of the Illinois .08 law introduced in 1997. The 30-month analysis found a reduction of 13.65% in the predicted percentage of drinking drivers involved in fatal crashes; for the 2-year period (1998 and 1999), the .08 law is associated with a reduction of approximately 105 alcohol-related deaths. An additional analysis, using the ratio approach, found a similar effect (12.3%). While the results of the covariate analysis remained statistically significant (p=.035), the analysis using the ratio approach was only marginally statistically significant (p=.082).

• Record URL:
  http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/Illinois08/index.htm
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/1749
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Title as it appears on the cover: Evaluation of the Illinois .08 Law: An Update with the 1999 FARS Data.
• Corporate Authors:

  Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation

  11720 Beltsville Drive, Suite 900
  Calverton, MD  United States  20705-3102

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  Office of Research and Traffic Records, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Voas, R B
  • Tippetts, A S
  • TAYLOR, E
• Publication Date: 2001-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 9 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Blood alcohol levels; Covariance; Drunk drivers; Fatalities; Per se laws; Ratios; Statistical analysis; Trend (Statistics)
• Identifier Terms: Fatality Analysis Reporting System
• Geographic Terms: Illinois
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors; I10: Economics and Administration; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00925929
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-809 382,, Second Interim Report
• Contract Numbers: DTNH22-98-D-35079
• Files: HSL, NTL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 20 2002 12:00AM