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Objective: This research evaluated the South Carolina Alcohol Enforcement Team impact for reducing retail alcohol access to underage persons to decrease drinking and driving crashes among that population. Methods: The natural research experiment used interrupted time‐series (ITS) analyses of drinking and driving crashes involving under 21‐year‐old drivers from July 2006 through December 2016 (126‐month period = 4,782 Driving Under Influence [DUI] crashes for under 21‐year‐old drivers, µ = 38 crashes per month). Additional data analyzed included the monthly total number of retail compliance checks (total during 126‐month period = 64,954 compliance checks completed, µ = 515.5 checks per month), the average percentage of underage alcohol purchases (total completed during 126‐month period = 8,814 purchases, µ = 70 purchases per month), and a calculated measure of the percent of the population under 21 years old exposed to compliance checks each month. We used drinking and driving crashes for 21‐year‐old and over drivers as a control time series (total number over a 126‐month period = 52,180 DUI crashes for 21 and older drivers, µ = 414.1 crashes per month). Results: The results show a decline in drinking and driving crashes for drivers under 21 when compliance checks increase, and when compliance checks decline, traffic crashes increase. Stable Alcohol Enforcement Team implementation over 78 months produced an overall 18 to 29% decline in such crashes. A visual examination of the crash time series demonstrated that under‐21‐age‐driver crashes declined during the first wave of implementation and increased following a lag when enforcement declined, which provided additional empirical support for a South Carolina Alcohol Enforcement Team impact on retail alcohol availability. An ITS analysis of the prestable period compared to the stable period was statistically significant (T = −3.78, p < 0.001). A cross‐check of these results using single‐vehicle nighttime crashes using identical Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models was also statistically significant (T = −8.18, p < 0.001). Conclusions: This longitudinal study provides strong evidence of sustained reductions in alcohol availability to underage youth can subsequently reduce alcohol‐related traffic crashes. Reductions found in this study continued over several years, considerably longer than any previous equivalent research has shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study analyzes posts to online news message boards covering driving under the influence (DUI) enforcement efforts to determine their usefulness for informing traffic safety program planning and public relations efforts aimed at mainstream drinking drivers. Methods: A series of Google searches were conducted using keywords designed to capture news stories regarding impaired driving enforcement efforts. For each search, the first 100 Web pages returned were reviewed and articles were included in analysis if they were from an independent news source and contained user comments. Coders captured data on 28 fields for each post, including tone in relation to enforcement, tone of interpersonal communication with other posters, and expressed feelings regarding drinking and driving. Results: Fifty-six news articles covering DUI enforcement efforts met study criteria, with 615 posts. The majority of posts (57%) were neutral on DUI enforcement; 24 percent (148) took a negative tone and 19 percent (115) positive. Posts that discussed checkpoints were 2.6 times more likely to take a negative tone toward enforcement than those that did not. Twenty-one percent of anti-enforcement posts challenged the idea that driving after drinking was necessarily dangerous. Of the 321 posts involving direct communication between posters, 67 percent involved disagreement with another post. Profanity or belittling comments appeared in 10 percent of posts. Conclusion: Public responses to DUI enforcement news articles provide insight into the beliefs and thought processes of those who oppose enforcement efforts or view drinking and driving as no big deal. Primary objections to enforcement focused on civil and personal rights issues, skepticism regarding law enforcement's motives and objectivity, and the belief that drinking driving is not a “real” crime. Online news message boards could be useful in informing campaigns and helping program planners frame media events and press releases to best appeal to the most at-risk segments of the driving public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: On May 1, 1996, Ontario, Canada, amended the Liquor Licence Act to extend the hours of alcohol sales and service in licensed establishments from 1 to 2 a.m. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of extended drinking hours on two cities in southwestern Ontario, Canada, one of which (London) would be affected by the alcohol control policy of extended drinking hours and the second city (Windsor) would be affected by two alcohol policies, extended drinking hours, and cross-border legal drinking age differences between Ontario and Michigan. Specifically, this study tested whether there were differences in impaired driving and assault charges in London and Windsor, Ontario, concomitant with the extended drinking hour amendment. Methods: A quasi-experimental design using interrupted time series was used to assess changes. The analyzed data sets were monthly police impaired driving and assault charges data for Ontario, for the 11-12 p.m., 12-1 a.m., 1-2 a.m., 2-3 a.m. and 3-4 a.m. time windows, for 4 years pre- and 3 years post-policy change. Results: Overall, London and Windsor exhibited significant overall reductions in impaired driving charges and no changes for assault charges aggregated over the 11 p.m.-4 a.m. time period after the drinking hours were extended. Within the different time windows, London showed significant decreases for the 1-2 a.m. Sunday-Wednesday and Thursday-Sunday time periods and a significant increase for the Sunday-Wednesday 3-4 a.m. time period, while Windsor demonstrated significant decreases in impaired driving charges for 1-2 a.m. Sunday-Wednesday and Thursday-Saturday time periods and significant increases for Sunday-Wednesday 2-3 and 3-4 a.m. and for Thursday-Saturday 2-3 a.m. For assault charges, no overall pre-post differences were found for the aggregated 11 p.m.-4 a.m. time period for either city. When the data were disaggregated by hour, a significant decrease was found in London for Thursday-Saturday 1-2 a.m. and significant increases for Sunday-Wednesday 2-3 a.m. and Thursday-Saturday 3-4 a.m. time periods, while no significant decreases were found in Windsor during the 1-2 a.m. time periods and one significant increase occurred during the Thursday-Saturday 2-3 a.m. time period. Conclusions: These findings, based on police data, suggest no overall effect on charges aggregated over the 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. time window, although some differences were observed for the different hours after 2 a.m., with a possible effect of the one hour extension of drinking in licensed establishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alcohol intoxication is associated with problems such as violence, injuries, drunk driving and sexual risk-taking, and music festivals are considered a high-risk setting for high levels of alcohol consumption. This study investigates intoxication levels, drinking habits, and opinions on alcohol use and alcohol policies among visitors at one of the largest music festivals in Sweden in 2017.Methods: A cross-sectional study assessing alcohol intoxication levels was conducted at a music festival (~ 50,000 attendees). Two research teams collected data at the two festival entrances during two nights, from approximately 6:00 pm to 01:30 am. Blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels were measured using breath analyzers. A face-to-face questionnaire was used to interview attendees about their alcohol use in the past 12 months using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C), as well as about their personal opinions on alcohol use and alcohol policies (statement). BAC levels were compared between categories of various factors using Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test. The distributions of BAC, AUDIT-C and statement category across gender was analyzed using Pearson's Chi-square tests. Associations of BAC levels with different factors were analyzed using Spearman rank correlation and multinomial logistic regression.Results: A total of 1663 attendees were randomly selected and invited to participate, and 1410 consented (63.7% men, 34.9% women, age 16-64 years). The proportion of drinkers was 81%. Among the drinkers, the median BAC level was 0.082%. Thirty-one percent of the participants had a BAC level above 0.10%. Forty-two percent of the participants reported binge drinking monthly, and 20% said that they binge drank weekly. Sixty-three percent of participants reported risky drinking habits. A self-reported risky alcohol habit increased the risk of a high alcohol intoxication level at the festival. Respondents were supportive of restrictive alcohol policies. Men had significantly higher BAC levels, reported more often risky alcohol habits and were less supportive of restrictive alcohol policies than women.Conclusions: The results indicate that participants at music festivals in Sweden have high levels of alcohol intoxication and largely support restrictive alcohol policies. Thus, there is both a need and support for the implementation of alcohol prevention strategies at festivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]