Finding Solutions to Drink-Driving - The Lessons of Research

• NCJ Number: 86511
• Journal: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1982) Pages: 170-182
• Author(s): S Engelberg; P V Mangioni; L P Wozniczka
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: An earlier version of this paper appeared in AJADD, V 6, N 4, 1979.

Annotation

Research suggests that an effective campaign against driving-under-the-influence must have multiple factors, such as public education, increasing the subjective and objective probabilities of apprehension, highly visible and consistent law enforcement, and offender rehabilitation.

Abstract

Many efforts to deter driving-under-the influence (DUI) have focused exclusively on the enactment of harsher penalties; yet research in a number of countries indicates the severe penalties per se are not effective in reducing DUI over the long term. This appears to be due primarily to a lack of a high and consistent probability of apprehension and a diminishment in citizens' subjective perception of the probability of apprehension. Unless people believe that apprehension is a salient possibility, they will continue to drink and drive. The media should be regularly used to increase and maintain citizen awareness of the probability for detection of DUI or involvement in a serious accident. Details of accident statistics, blood alcohol levels, and accident particulars should be regularly published to highlight the issue as a community problem that can only be remedied by individuals assuming increased responsibility for their drinking and driving habits. A prerequisite for media coverage is police and judicial enforcement. This does not require a dramatic increase in the number of police traffic patrols or increased penalties but rather more consistency and visibility of operations. Highway patrol and radar traps should be regularly seen by drivers, and judges should fine offenders toward the upper limits. Programs for offender rehabilitation should also be emphasized, and new techniques for molding public opinion and increasing detection should be adopted as they are developed. Tabular data are provided for DUI programs in Australian jurisdictions, and 24 references are listed.