Enforcement of drinking and driving laws in the US

Enforcement of drinking and driving laws is an important component of preventing alcohol-involved motor-vehicle fatalities but little is known about the use of various types of drinking-driving enforcement strategies in the U.S. We surveyed all state patrol agencies (n=49) and a sample of local law enforcement agencies (n=1,082) that were randomly selected with stratification by size of state and agency. We examined four types of enforcement strategies: sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, open container enforcement efforts, and other enforcement actions aimed at drinking and driving, and tested whether differences existed by agency size and state consumption patterns (Wet, Moderate and Dry), as described by Kerr (2010). Most state patrol agencies conducted saturation patrols (90%), sobriety checkpoints (69%) and other enforcement actions (54%), but less than half (46%) conducted efforts aimed at open container violations. In contrast, a lower proportion of local law enforcement agencies used these four types of strategies (57%; 37%; 20%; 41%). Large state patrol agencies (>720 agents) and those in dry (vs. moderate or wet) states were more likely to conduct sobriety checkpoints (p<0.05). Similarly, among local law enforcement agencies, large agencies (>15 agents) and agencies in dry (vs. moderate or wet) states were more likely to conduct sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols and other enforcement actions (p<0.05). We will discuss the potential need for increased use of drinking and driving enforcement actions along with need for future research on the relationship between enforcement efforts and alcohol-involved motor-vehicle fatalities.