title: Association between alcohol-impaired driving enforcement-related strategies and alcohol-impaired driving.
abstract: All states in the U.S. prohibit alcohol-impaired driving but active law enforcement is necessary for effectively reducing this behavior. Sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, open container laws, and media campaigns related to enforcement efforts are all enforcement-related strategies for reducing alcohol-impaired driving. We conducted surveys of all state patrol agencies and a representative sample of local law enforcement agencies to assess their use of alcohol-impaired driving enforcement-related strategies and to determine the relationship between these enforcement-related strategies and self-reported alcohol-impaired driving behavior obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We found that sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, and enforcement of open container laws were associated with a lower prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving but, more importantly, a combination of enforcement-related strategies was associated with a greater decrease in alcohol-impaired driving than any individual enforcement-related activity. In addition, alcohol-impaired driving enforcement-related strategies were associated with decreased alcohol-impaired driving above and beyond their association with decreased binge drinking. Results suggest law enforcement agencies should give greater priority to using a combination of strategies rather than relying on any one individual enforcement activity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States. Electronic address: sanem006@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Julia R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sanem
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States. Electronic address: erick232@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Darin J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Erickson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Allegheny College, 520 North Main Street, Meadville, PA 16335, United States. Electronic address: prutledg@allegheny.edu.
authors.forename: Patricia C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Rutledge
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States. Electronic address: lenk@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Lenk
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States. Electronic address: tfnelson@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Toben F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States. Electronic address: jones010@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Rhonda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jones-Webb
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, 1300 South Second Street, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States. Electronic address: toome001@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Traci L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Toomey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001334:Automobile Driving / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D040343:Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System; D005260:Female; D006077:Government Agencies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D013219:State Government; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol-impaired driving; Enforcement; Latent class analysis; Open container laws; Saturation patrols; Sobriety checkpoints