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Journal Article

Citation

Desapriya EBR, Fujiwara T, Scime G, Sasges D, Pike I, Shimizu S. Nihon Arukoru Yakubutsu Igakkai Zasshi 2009; 44(5): 569-578.

Affiliation

British Columbia Injury Research and Prevention Unit, L408-4480 Oak St., Vancouver, BC, V6H 3V4, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Japanese Medical Society of Alcohol and Drug Studies)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

19938652

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: International studies have shown a significant association between alcohol availability and traffic crashes that involve alcohol-impaired drivers. A key limitation to previous alcohol availability and motor vehicle crash (MVC) evaluation research is the assumption of population homogeneity in responding to the policies. The present analysis focuses on the evaluation of the impact of alcohol availability on different segments of the Japanese population by comparing MVC fatality rates from before and after implementation of the alcohol deregulation policy in 1994. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Poisson regression with robust standard error was used to model the before-to-after change in incidence rate ratios (IRR) in adult males, adult females, teenage males and teenage females. To control potential confounders, unemployment rate, vehicle miles of travel (VMT), vehicle registration, and number of drivers licensed in Japan were added to the model. The exponents of the fitted coefficients are equivalent to incidence rate ratios. RESULTS: Implementation of the policy deregulating alcohol sales and production did not appear to increase traffic fatalities among adult or teenage males or females in Japan. We found that male adult fatalities demonstrated a statistically significant decline following enactment of the deregulation policy in 1994. DISCUSSION: Contrary to previous research, the findings of this study demonstrated lower rates of fatalities and higher compliance with alcohol-related driving legislation in Japanese society following implementation of the deregulation policy in 1994. Further well designed, nonaligned studies on alcohol availability and traffic fatalities in other countries are urgently needed.


Language: en

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