Long Term Deterrent Effect of the Safe Roads Act

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Long Term Deterrent Effect of the Safe Roads Act

C. L. Popkin / C. A. Martell

The Safe Roads Act of 1983 made significant changes in the laws affecting drinking and driving. Initial analyses indicated that the law was effective in reducing driving while impaired (DWI). Yet in 1988, over 76,500 North Carolinians were arrested for DWI, an arrest rate of 1.76 per hundred licensed drivers. In spite of a general reduction in driving while impaired (DWI) activity, drinking and driving continues to be a contributing factor in a large proportion of motor vehicle crashes. In 1988 there were 15,301 alcohol related (A/R) crashes in North Carolina in which 15,618 people were injured. Apparently drinking and driving is still a large problem in North Carolina. This work was sponsored through funding from the Governor's Highway Safety Program. This report presents an updated evaluation of the effectiveness of the Safe Roads Act as of 1988 in terms of reducing A/R crash involvement, nighttime crash involvement (an often used proxy measure of DWI involvement), DWI arrests, and BAC levels over the period from 1980 to 1988. In addition, it presents the levels of conviction for DWI for all those persons arrested for DWI and for those arrested for DWI who exceed the per se.