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Drinking and driving: Advances in research and prevention
Arid. Am/. & Prev. Vol. 24. No. 2. pp. ?II-216. Prmted m Great Britam.
DWI-4575192 $5.00 + .(x) 0 1992 Pergamon Press Ltd.
1992
RECENT
PUBLICATIONS
Accident Analysis and Prevention invites authors and publishers to submit material for presenatation and review in Recent Publications. Books, conference proceedings, research reports and other full-length studies are welcome. Readers willing to review publications for the jounal are asked to submit their name, address and areas of interest to the Book Review Editor. Correspondence should be addressed to: Mary L. Chipman Book Review Editor Deparment of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics University ofi Toronto Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S lA8
Drinking and Driving: Advances in Research and Prevention. R. Jean Wilson and Robert Mann, editors. The Guilford Substance Abuse Series. The Guilford Press, New York, NY, USA, 1990. 294 pp. $37.50. ISBN o-89862-170-4. This book provides a fairly comprehensive description of the impaired driving problem over the past ten years or so. Much of the latest research findings and countermeasure evaluations are included. While the contents of the book are substantial, what is not covered in the book is also significant. Promising areas such as the lowering of the legal blood alcohol concentration limit, new technology such as passive sensors, and the whole area of server intervention, responsible alcohol service, the designated driver program and other approaches to control individual consumption were omitted because “they did not have a notable impact on social trends or the content of the problem at the time of the writing.” Too bad. Because many of these new areas could be the crux of new programs in the 1990s. Be that as it may, the book does cover most traditional approaches to prevention, deterrence, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of the drinking driver in North America, with a couple of chapters dealing with German and Australian programs. After the introduction by the editors, which tells us what is in the book and what is not in it, the second chapter goes right into the psychosocial characteristics of drinking drivers (by Brian A. Jonah). This chapter is comprehensive and well written and cites many useful references. The summary and conclusions could have been more explicit and practical considering how all of this information can be used to identify impaired drivers likely to be in crashes. The third chapter, on adolescents, drinking and driving (by Knut-Inge Klepp and Cheryl L. Perry), is excellent. The description of the Minnesota adolescent survey is fascinating. Important issues such as targeting prevention before adolescents reach the driving age, avoiding impaired driving exposure as a driver or as a passenger, and changing the availability of alcohol to youth are discussed in a thoughtful manner. One recommendation calls for the design of school-based, peer-led, educational prevention programs, but does not tell us who should do this or how it can be done. The fourth chapter, on alcoholism, problem drinking, and driving while impaired (by Brenda A. Miller and Michael Wilde), provides good descriptions of assessment instruments and addresses important questions concerning the crashes, probability of arrest, and likely recidivism of problem drinker drivers. The chapter contains no conclusions or recommendations, which is disappointing. The fifth chapter deals with a new look at deterrence (by Evelyn R. Vingilis) and makes a somewhat surprising statement 211
212
Recent Publications
that certainty. celerity and severity of punishment for impaired driving do not have major long-term impacts (I thought they did). The author discusses seven assumptions of the new deterrence theory and concludes that these do not always happen with drinking drivers (i.e. there is compulsive and impulsive drinking and driving). Recommendations for further research are described. The sixth chapter, on enforcement, adjudication and sanctions in the United States (by Robert G. Voas and John H. Lacey), opens with an excellent review of the U.S./Scandinavian history of enforcement, Good discussions of sobriety checkpoints, administrative license revocation laws, alternatives to jail and many other issues are conveyed in this chapter. An important conclusion is that unless we change the availability of alcohol and relative unavailability of public transportation in the United States, we have a long, tough road to walk (also, hopefully, unimpaired), A description of Australia’s random breath testing programs is contained in Chapter 7 (by Ross Homel). This is by far the most delightful chapter - interesting, well written and convincing. An important distinction between random breath testing and sobriety checkpoints is made. The random breath testing experience in Australia appears to be effective. acceptable by the public. blast-beneficial and life-saving. The author warns, however. that if the program is not adopted “boots and all” (visible, frequent enforcement, publicity, etc.) it may not be effective elsewhere. Chapter 8 gets into issues relatively new to transportation officials, anyway, on alcohol availability and consumption and their effects on the alcohol crash problem (by Robert E. Mann and Lise Anghn). There is certainly compelling evidence that alcohol availability &es affect traffic safety - one only has to look at the studies of the minimum drinking age in the United States. There is also a positive relationship between per capita alcohol consumption and the drinking driving problem. While the authors just touch the surface in these areas, there is much promising research going on at present that should clarify the situation in the future. Enforcement of underage drinking may be intensified in the 1990s for example, and result in even further reductions in youthful impaired driving. Youth anti-drinking-driving programs is the subject of the next chapter, by Kathryn Stewart and Michael Klitzner. Two important points are made in this chapter. The first is that meaningful reductions in the alcohol crash problem among youth cannot be realized without significant attention to change in youth drinking practices. The second deals with cotnmunity-wide programs that are very appealing and being tried in ten communities in the United States. The effectiveness (or not) of these community programs may determine future efforts in this area. Chapter 10, by Wolf-R. Nickel, provides a description of the programs for the rehabilitation and treatment of drinking-driving multiple offenders in the Federal Republic of Germany. These are comprehensive, long-term programs which are shown to be effective - except for young drivers! The recidivism of only 13% described by the author is remarkable. It is also appeaIing that the basic principle for multiple offenders is the joint application of punishment (license ~v~thdrawal~ and treatment (mandatory and up to four years). The final chapter of the book attempts to match the impaired driver to an effective intervention strategy. This matching is mainly theoretical, with very little empirical evidence of effectiveness. The author does point out that powerful quantitation techniques known as “meta-analysis” could help in the future evaluation of matching hypotheses to specific groups. In summary, while the book does substantia~iy contribute to the state of the art of impaired driving research and prevention, something is missing. The book is thin on recommendations and, when they are present, methods to implement them are not. Maybe in the sequel we will learn how to deal effectively with the impaired driving problem in the 1990s. Until then + . . .
DWI-4575192 $5.00 + .(x) 0 1992 Pergamon Press Ltd.
1992
RECENT
PUBLICATIONS
Accident Analysis and Prevention invites authors and publishers to submit material for presenatation and review in Recent Publications. Books, conference proceedings, research reports and other full-length studies are welcome. Readers willing to review publications for the jounal are asked to submit their name, address and areas of interest to the Book Review Editor. Correspondence should be addressed to: Mary L. Chipman Book Review Editor Deparment of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics University ofi Toronto Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S lA8
Drinking and Driving: Advances in Research and Prevention. R. Jean Wilson and Robert Mann, editors. The Guilford Substance Abuse Series. The Guilford Press, New York, NY, USA, 1990. 294 pp. $37.50. ISBN o-89862-170-4. This book provides a fairly comprehensive description of the impaired driving problem over the past ten years or so. Much of the latest research findings and countermeasure evaluations are included. While the contents of the book are substantial, what is not covered in the book is also significant. Promising areas such as the lowering of the legal blood alcohol concentration limit, new technology such as passive sensors, and the whole area of server intervention, responsible alcohol service, the designated driver program and other approaches to control individual consumption were omitted because “they did not have a notable impact on social trends or the content of the problem at the time of the writing.” Too bad. Because many of these new areas could be the crux of new programs in the 1990s. Be that as it may, the book does cover most traditional approaches to prevention, deterrence, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of the drinking driver in North America, with a couple of chapters dealing with German and Australian programs. After the introduction by the editors, which tells us what is in the book and what is not in it, the second chapter goes right into the psychosocial characteristics of drinking drivers (by Brian A. Jonah). This chapter is comprehensive and well written and cites many useful references. The summary and conclusions could have been more explicit and practical considering how all of this information can be used to identify impaired drivers likely to be in crashes. The third chapter, on adolescents, drinking and driving (by Knut-Inge Klepp and Cheryl L. Perry), is excellent. The description of the Minnesota adolescent survey is fascinating. Important issues such as targeting prevention before adolescents reach the driving age, avoiding impaired driving exposure as a driver or as a passenger, and changing the availability of alcohol to youth are discussed in a thoughtful manner. One recommendation calls for the design of school-based, peer-led, educational prevention programs, but does not tell us who should do this or how it can be done. The fourth chapter, on alcoholism, problem drinking, and driving while impaired (by Brenda A. Miller and Michael Wilde), provides good descriptions of assessment instruments and addresses important questions concerning the crashes, probability of arrest, and likely recidivism of problem drinker drivers. The chapter contains no conclusions or recommendations, which is disappointing. The fifth chapter deals with a new look at deterrence (by Evelyn R. Vingilis) and makes a somewhat surprising statement 211
212
Recent Publications
that certainty. celerity and severity of punishment for impaired driving do not have major long-term impacts (I thought they did). The author discusses seven assumptions of the new deterrence theory and concludes that these do not always happen with drinking drivers (i.e. there is compulsive and impulsive drinking and driving). Recommendations for further research are described. The sixth chapter, on enforcement, adjudication and sanctions in the United States (by Robert G. Voas and John H. Lacey), opens with an excellent review of the U.S./Scandinavian history of enforcement, Good discussions of sobriety checkpoints, administrative license revocation laws, alternatives to jail and many other issues are conveyed in this chapter. An important conclusion is that unless we change the availability of alcohol and relative unavailability of public transportation in the United States, we have a long, tough road to walk (also, hopefully, unimpaired), A description of Australia’s random breath testing programs is contained in Chapter 7 (by Ross Homel). This is by far the most delightful chapter - interesting, well written and convincing. An important distinction between random breath testing and sobriety checkpoints is made. The random breath testing experience in Australia appears to be effective. acceptable by the public. blast-beneficial and life-saving. The author warns, however. that if the program is not adopted “boots and all” (visible, frequent enforcement, publicity, etc.) it may not be effective elsewhere. Chapter 8 gets into issues relatively new to transportation officials, anyway, on alcohol availability and consumption and their effects on the alcohol crash problem (by Robert E. Mann and Lise Anghn). There is certainly compelling evidence that alcohol availability &es affect traffic safety - one only has to look at the studies of the minimum drinking age in the United States. There is also a positive relationship between per capita alcohol consumption and the drinking driving problem. While the authors just touch the surface in these areas, there is much promising research going on at present that should clarify the situation in the future. Enforcement of underage drinking may be intensified in the 1990s for example, and result in even further reductions in youthful impaired driving. Youth anti-drinking-driving programs is the subject of the next chapter, by Kathryn Stewart and Michael Klitzner. Two important points are made in this chapter. The first is that meaningful reductions in the alcohol crash problem among youth cannot be realized without significant attention to change in youth drinking practices. The second deals with cotnmunity-wide programs that are very appealing and being tried in ten communities in the United States. The effectiveness (or not) of these community programs may determine future efforts in this area. Chapter 10, by Wolf-R. Nickel, provides a description of the programs for the rehabilitation and treatment of drinking-driving multiple offenders in the Federal Republic of Germany. These are comprehensive, long-term programs which are shown to be effective - except for young drivers! The recidivism of only 13% described by the author is remarkable. It is also appeaIing that the basic principle for multiple offenders is the joint application of punishment (license ~v~thdrawal~ and treatment (mandatory and up to four years). The final chapter of the book attempts to match the impaired driver to an effective intervention strategy. This matching is mainly theoretical, with very little empirical evidence of effectiveness. The author does point out that powerful quantitation techniques known as “meta-analysis” could help in the future evaluation of matching hypotheses to specific groups. In summary, while the book does substantia~iy contribute to the state of the art of impaired driving research and prevention, something is missing. The book is thin on recommendations and, when they are present, methods to implement them are not. Maybe in the sequel we will learn how to deal effectively with the impaired driving problem in the 1990s. Until then + . . .