EFFECTS OF STATUTORY CHANGES IN DUI FINE, JAIL AND LICENSE ...



EFFECTS OF STATUTORY CHANGES IN DUI FINE, JAIL AND LICENSE SUSPENSION PENALTIES: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL TIME-SERIES EVALUATION OF POLICY CHANGES ACROSS THE 50 U.S. STATES

Alexander C. WAGENAAR1, Mildred M. MALDONADO-MOLINA1, Darin J. ERICKSON2, Linan MA1, Amy L. TOBLER1, Kelli A. KOMRO1

1 University of Florida, College of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research and Institute for Child Health Policy, 2 University of Minnesota, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health

wagenaar@ufl.edu

Effects of state statutory changes in DUI fine, jail and license suspension penalties from 1976-2002 were examined using a quasi-experimental time-series design. Four outcome measures of drivers involved in alcohol-related fatal crashes were used: single-vehicle nighttime, low BAC (.01-.07 g/dl), medium BAC (.08-.14), and high BAC (> .15). All analyses of BAC outcomes included multiple imputation procedures for cases with missing data. Separate ARIMA models were estimated for each state, including controls for state-specific levels of crash involvement over time due to other factors and effects of other major DUI countermeasures. Estimates were pooled across states using inverse variance weighting methods. Estimated effects varied widely from state to state. Using estimates of pooled effects, mandatory fine polices were associated with an average reduction in fatal crash involvement by drivers with BAC > 0.08 g/dl of 8%. Mandatory minimum jail policies were associated with a decline in single-vehicle nighttime fatal crash involvement of 6% (averaging 5 per state per year), and a decline in low-BAC cases of 9%. Fine and jail effects were not consistent across measures. Pre-conviction license suspension policies were associated with a decline in alcohol-related fatal crash involvement of 5% (representing 1000 lives saved per year), with consistent effects across all outcome measures. Post-conviction license suspension policies had no discernable effects.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download