Thursday, July 7, 2011

Did you know ...?

... that out of every 2,000 drunk drivers on the road at any time, only 1 will be arrested?

That translates to about a 1/300 chance for heavily policed area, and a 1/1,000 chance for areas with less enforcement.

Furthermore, most drunk drivers have driven drunk at least 30 times before they were caught (according to self reports).

In other words ... it's scary out there, and drunk driving is still a HUGE problem. I'm working on a review of effective media and interpersonal interventions to limit drunk driving, and it's hugely discouraging. I'm thinking that legislative and behavioral interventions are unlikely to seriously affect this problem; however, environmental interventions such as interlocks might be more effective.

(This is my theory, despite the fact that a drunk driver could just have their sober friend blow into the interlock to start the car).

In my opinion, the best decision would be to increase availability of taxis and public transportation to encourage safe journeys home at the end of the night. Either that, or encourage people to live closer to their favorite bars. That's exactly what I've done, along with many of my friends, and I'm rarely tempted to drive after imbibing.

Does anyone have thoughts on how to stem the tide of drunk driving accidents? Or are we all going to be perpetually at risk?

No comments:

Post a Comment