Drink driving deterrents and self-reported offending behaviours among a sample of Queensland motorists.

PROBLEM The efficacy of drink driving (driving under the influence, DUI) countermeasures to deter motorists from driving over the legal limit is extremely important when considering the personal and economic impact the offending behavior has on the community. This paper reports on an examination of 780 Queensland motorists' perceptions of legal and non-legal sanctions and their deterrent impact on self-reported offending behavior. METHOD The data were collected via a telephone survey of motorists recruited from a random sample of all listed telephone numbers in the state, adjusted according to district population figures. RESULTS The results indicated that there were a range of legal and non-legal factors that were significantly associated with self-reported DUI including: the perceived risk of apprehension and license loss (legal factors); and concerns relating to the possibility of being involved in a crash and hurting another person (non-legal factors). However, additional multivariate analyses indicated that while both legal and non-legal factors significantly predicted self-reported DUI, higher alcohol consumption levels and more favorable attitudes to the behavior also appear to increase the likelihood of DUI. DISCUSSION The paper will outline the direct implications of the research project such as the development and promotion of countermeasures that both effectively deter motorists and address pro-offending attitudes. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY The findings also highlight that DUI remains a relatively common behaviour among some motoring groups and that there is a need to extend current levels of enforcement as well as adopt innovative strategies to enhance the impact of these operations on the offending behaviour.

[1]  Robert B. Voas,et al.  BACS OF U.S. DRIVERS IN FATAL CRASHES: HAVE THEY CHANGED IN THE LAST 20 YEARS? , 2002 .

[2]  M. Silberman.  Toward a theory of criminal deterrence. , 1976 .

[3]  Kentucky Workforce Investment Board.  Annual Report 2001-2002 , 2002 .

[4]  Suzanne Briscoe,et al.  Raising the bar: can increased statutory penalties deter drink-drivers? , 2004, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[5]  D L McArthur,et al.  The specific deterrence of administrative per se laws in reducing drunk driving recidivism. , 1999, American journal of preventive medicine.

[6]  R. Paternoster,et al.  The Deterrent Effect of Perceived Severity: A Reexamination , 1986 .

[7]  T M Klein.  CHANGES IN ALCOHOL-INVOLVED FATAL CRASHES ASSOCIATED WITH TOUGHER STATE ALCOHOL LEGISLATION , 1989 .

[8]  Daniel S. Nagin,et al.  INTEGRATING CELERITY, IMPULSIVITY, AND EXTRALEGAL SANCTION THREATS INTO A MODEL OF GENERAL DETERRENCE: THEORY AND EVIDENCE* , 2001 .

[9]  Douglas James Beirness,et al.  ARE THE DECLINES IN DRINKING DRIVING FATALITIES IN CANADA BEING OVERESTIMATED , 2002 .

[10]  K. O. Christiansen.  Scandinavian studies in criminology , 1967 .

[11]  J. Mullahy,et al.  Do Drinkers Know When to Say When - An Empirical-Analysis of Drunk Driving , 1994 .

[12]  Harold G. Grasmick,et al.  Deterrence and the Morally Committed , 1980 .

[13]  B M Sweedler,et al.  Vehicle sanctions: an effective means to reduce impaired driving , 2000 .

[14]  ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN PEER ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOUR, RANDOM BREATH TESTING EXPERIENCE AND DRINK DRIVING IN A POPULATION-REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIANS , 1995 .

[15]  E. Vingilis.  A NEW LOOK AT DETERRENCE , 1990 .

[16]  D. Brooke.  DRINKING AND DRIVING: ADVANCES IN RESEARCH AND PREVENTION , 1992 .

[17]  A. Hirsch,et al.  Criminal deterrence and sentence severity : an analysis of recent research , 1999 .

[18]  Norval Morris,et al.  Punishment and Deterrence , 1974 .

[19]  James E. Freeman,et al.  Deterrence, Defiance and Deviance: An Investigation Into a Group of Recidivist Drink Drivers' Self-Reported Offending Behaviours , 2006 .

[20]  J H Lacey,et al.  REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE EVALUATING THE EFFECT OF COUNTERMEASURES TO REDUCE ALCOHOL IMPAIRED DRIVING (1980-1989). FINAL REPORT. VOLUME I - SYNTHESIS , 1991 .

[21]  James Freeman,et al.  Perceptions and Experiences of Random Breath Testing in Queensland and the Self-Reported Deterrent Impact on Drunk Driving , 2007, Traffic injury prevention.

[22]  R C Peck,et al.  The long-term traffic safety impact of a pilot alcohol abuse treatment as an alternative to license suspensions. , 1991, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[23]  Q Thurman,et al.  Drunk-Driving Research and Innovation: A Factorial Survey Study of Decisions To Drink and Drive , 1993 .

[24]  D Carseldine,et al.  DRINK-DRIVING COUNTERMEASURES IN AUSTRALIA , 1988 .

[25]  Alex R. Piquero,et al.  Specifying the direct and indirect effects of low self-control and situational factors in offenders' decision making: Toward a more complete model of rational offending , 1996 .

[26]  D. Berger,et al.  A Structural Model of Drinking and Driving - Alcohol-Consumption, Social Norms, and Moral Commitments , 1986 .

[27]  H. Ross,et al.  Deterring the Drinking Driver: Legal Policy and Social Control. , 1983 .

[28]  J. Gibbs,et al.  Objective and Perceptual Properties of Legal Punishment and The Deterrence Doctrine , 1978 .

[29]  Harold D. Holder,et al.  Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity: Research and Public Policy , 2010 .

[30]  R. Kraut.  Deterrent and Definitional Influences on Shoplifting , 1976 .

[31]  J. Gibbs.  Assessing the Deterrence Doctrine , 1979 .

[32]  M. W. Klein,et al.  Handbook of Criminal Justice Evaluation , 1980 .

[33]  R. Homel.  Policing and punishing the drinking driver , 1988 .

[34]  J. Yu,et al.  Punishment and alcohol problems: Recidivism among drinking-driving offenders , 2000 .

[35]  Thor Norström,et al.  LAW ENFORCEMENT AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION POLICY AS COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST DRUNKEN DRIVING: POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS , 1983 .

[36]  Scott Baum,et al.  Self-reported Drink Driving and Deterrence , 1999 .

[37]  Robert E. Mann,et al.  EFFECTS OF SENTENCE SEVERITY ON DRINKING DRIVING OFFENDERS , 1990 .

[38]  L. Eron,et al.  Research and public policy. , 1996, Pediatrics.

[39]  Alex R. Piquero,et al.  Beyond Stafford and Warr's Reconceptualization of Deterrence: Personal and Vicarious Experiences, Impulsivity, and Offending Behavior , 2002 .

[40]  Raymond C. Peck.  THE GENERAL AND SPECIFIC DETERRENT EFFECTS OF DUI SANCTIONS: A REVIEW OF CALIFORNIA'S EXPERIENCE , 1991 .

[41]  J. Hagan.  Deterrence Reconsidered: Methodological Innovations , 1982 .

[42]  Leigh M. Smith,et al.  Roadblock testing in Western Australia and the process of deterrence , 1991 .

[43]  J R Snortum.  DETERRENCE OF ALCOHOL-IMPAIRED DRIVING. AN EFFECT IN SEARCH OF A CAUSE. SOCIAL CONTROL OF THE DRINKING DRIVER , 1988 .

[44]  Ted Chiricos,et al.  Formal and Informal Sanctions: A Comparison of Deterrent Effects , 1977 .

[45]  Lawrence W. Sherman,et al.  Defiance, Deterrence, and Irrelevance: A Theory of the Criminal Sanction , 1993 .

[46]  H. Ross.  Law, Science, and Accidents: The British Road Safety Act of 1967 , 1973, The Journal of Legal Studies.

[47]  R. Faris,et al.  Handbook of modern sociology , 1965 .

[48]  F. Zimring,et al.  Deterrence: The Legal Threat in Crime Control , 1973 .

[49]  K. Williams,et al.  Perceptual research on general deterrence: A critical review. , 1986 .

[50]  James E. Freeman,et al.  Perceptions and experiences of random breath testing in Queensland and the self-reported deterrent impact on drink-driving , 2007 .

[51]  Robert F. Meier,et al.  Deterrence as Social Control: The Legal and Extralegal Production of Conformity , 1977 .

[52]  Gresham M. Sykes,et al.  Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. , 1957 .

[53]  H L Ross,et al.  Deterring drunken driving: an analysis of current efforts. , 1985, Journal of studies on alcohol. Supplement.

[54]  Nml Director,et al.  Annual Report 2001-2002 , 2002 .

[55]  Richard Tay,et al.  Barriers and facilitators to the effective operation of rbt in queensland , 2003 .

[56]  Rickey L. Williams,et al.  A survey of suspension and revocation effects on the drinking-driving offender , 1984 .

[57]  Donald E. Green.  Measures of Illegal Behavior in Individual-Level Deterrence Research , 1989 .

[58]  Harold G. Grasmick,et al.  Legal punishment, social disapproval and internalization as inhibitors of illegal behavior. , 1980 .

[59]  J. Harry,et al.  Deterrent and Experiential Effects in Perceptual Deterrence Research: a Replication and Extension , 1982 .

[60]  Barry C. Watson.  THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DRINK DRIVING LICENCE ACTIONS, REMEDIAL PROGRAMS AND VEHICLE-BASED SANCTIONS , 1998 .

[61]  Alexander C. Wagenaar,et al.  Deterrence and the Adolescent Drinking Driver , 1999 .