THE EFFECTS OF RANDOM BREATH TESTING OPERATIONS AND DRINK-DRIVING PUBLICITY ON ALCOHOL-RELATED CRASHES IN RURAL AREAS

Alcohol-related crashes occurring on major and minor roads in rural areas of Victoria, a south-east state of Australia, were analysed. An alcohol-related crash is one that occurs during high alcohol times (HAH) of the week - those times when illegal drink-driving is more likely to occur. The effects on crashes of different styles of RBT operations, and the interactions of these effects with levels of drink-driving publicity awareness were examined. RBT operations are those involving the random breath testing (RBT) of drivers' blood alcohol levels. The style of operation is defined by the type of Police vehicle used in each RBT session. At times of intense RBT enforcement (buses and cars operating together) and at times of high drink-driving publicity awareness, statistically significant increases occurred in crashes on minor roads but not on major roads. In view of this result, the effects of bus operations on crashes in large rural cities and in other rural areas were examined separately. It was found that buses operating alone were effective in reducing crashes in large rural cities but not in other less built-up rural areas. Police car RBT operations were effective in reducing crashes in both large rural towns and other rural areas. For the covering abstract see ITRD E106992.