Can police deter drunk driving?

Abstract

Economic studies using aggregate data generally find that higher taxes are the most effective policy to reduce drunk driving while criminologists report strong evidence supporting law enforcement measures in policy evaluations. This paper evaluates these differing perspectives using the aggregate data that is typically used in the economic literature. OLS and fixed effects models show that police can affect the probability of arrest for drunk driving and, in combination with evidence from DUI deterrence experiments, this suggests that the failure of economic models to detect deterrence reflects the lack of systematic and sustained police efforts against DUI.

Explaining San Diego’s Decline in Illegal Street‐Racing Casualties

“…For example, Kinkade and Leone (1992) found that aggressive enforcement of drunk-driving laws in California reduced the problem. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that a tough-on-street-racing stance could lead to reductions in casualties attributable to the problem (see also Benson, Mast, & Rasmussen, 2000).…”

Not by accident: An analytical approach to traffic crash harm reduction

“…Second, studies have examined the impact of police interventions on the reduction of driving under the influence arrests, leading Sherman (1998: p. 18) to report that "the ability of police to control drunk driving appears to be a direct and linear function of the amount of effort they put into it." Likewise, Benson et al (2000) demonstrated that the allocation of DUI related enforcement by police agencies, including sobriety checkpoints, is an important determinant of traffic fatalities. Most definitively, Erke et al (2009) conducted a meta-analysis of forty studies examining the effects of DUI checkpoints and traffic crashes in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.…”

Alert eyes and DWIs: An indirect evaluation of a DWI witness reward program in Stockton, CA

“…A wide range of efforts to avert the costly impact of drunken driving have been tried: increased police resources, more sobriety checkpoints and intensive patrols (Benson et al, , 2000; stricter blood alcohol concentration (BAC) laws, raising the minimum legal drinking age (Eisenberg, 2003); reducing retail alcohol outlet densities (McCarthy, 2003); enacting a common-site sales ban on alcohol and gasoline (Farmer et al, 2005); increasing alcohol taxes Bielinska-Kwapisz, 2002, 2006;Mast et al, 1999); impounding vehicles (DeYoung, 1999;Voas and DeYoung, 2002); and targeted ignition-interlock programs (DeYoung, 2002). While this paper does not attempt to fully review the scope of the drunken driving literature, it informs the policy and enforcement discussion of the potential for positive incentives against drunken driving in US.…”