How do Zero Tolerance Drunk Driving Laws work?
This paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of the effects of "Zero Tolerance" (ZT) Drunk Driving Laws--which set very low legal blood alcohol limits for individuals under age 21--on self-reported alcohol use and drunk driving using data from the 1984 to 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). I estimate two-way fixed effects models of alcohol-related behaviors of 18-20-year-olds that can condition on unobserved differences across states that may be correlated with determinants of drinking and drunk driving, and I use 22-24-year-olds as a control group. Results indicate that the laws reduced heavy episodic drinking (five or more drinks at one sitting) among underage males by 13%. This result is supported by models that use variation in treatment intensity induced by differences in body weight. I find mixed evidence of ZT effects for females, and no robust effects on drinking participation or drunk driving for either sex.
Carpenter
Christopher
C
The University of Michigan School of Public Health, 109 Observatory, SPH-II, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2029, USA. kittc@umich.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003625:Data Collection; D000431:Ethanol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012650:Self Disclosure; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D000431:Ethanol