Selective Traffic Enforcement Program - STEP-BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) Study in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• NCJ Number: 76287
• Author(s): W N Taubenslag; M J Taubenslag
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 118 pages
• Contract Number(s): DOT-HS-224-2-384
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Admin
• Corporate Author: Fort Lauderdale Police Dept
• Sale Source: National Technical Information Service; Not Available Through National Institute of Justice/NCJRS Document Loan Program
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This report describes a 3-month experiment, conducted by the City of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., under the auspices of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in which the relationship between blood alcohol content (BAC) and types of citations issued was analyzed.

Abstract

The study evaluated the extent of drinking done by drivers who were cited for traffic violations, the profile of these drivers, the relationship between drinking and time of day or year, the type of citation, the effectiveness of the Roadside Breathanalyzer Tester (RBT) as an accurate and reliable instrument, the operational problems to achieve compliance with the request to submit to an RBT test, and the impact of the RBT testing project on the city's motoring public and police department. Findings indicate that the incidence of drinking was high; 17.1 percent of the accidents reported by project personnel were committed by those drivers cited for driving while intoxicated (DWI). Moreover, the incidence of males cited for traffic violations who had a high BAC was greater than that for females, and the incidence of high BAC correlates directly with age, with the 16-25-year age group having the greatest incidence of high BAC. In addition, the highest incidence of high BAC occurred in the inner city, followed by the ocean front area. Although there was a downturn in BAC in the last month of the program and an upturn in refusals to comply with the test, the project was stopped before these data could validate the conclusion that the project had an impact on the public. A total of 18 figures, 17 tables, and 8 references are given. An appendix contains 23 tables. (NTIS abstract modified)