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Journal Article

Citation

Brubacher JR, Chan H, Brasher PMA, Erdelyi S, Desapriya EBR, Asbridge M, Purssell R, Macdonald S, Schuurman N, Pike I. Am. J. Public Health 2014; 104(10): e89-97.

Affiliation

Jeffrey R. Brubacher, Herbert Chan, Edi Desapriya, and Roy Purssell are with the Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Roy Purssell is also with the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver. Penelope Brasher is with the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, University of British Columbia. Shannon Erdelyi is with the Department of Statistics, University of British Columbia. Mark Asbridge is with the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Scott Macdonald is with the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, University of Victoria, British Columbia. Nadine Schuurman is with the Department of Geography, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia. Ian Pike is with the British Columbia Injury Prevention and Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2014.302068

PMID

25121822

Abstract

OBJECTIVEs. We evaluated the public health benefits of traffic laws targeting speeding and drunk drivers (British Columbia, Canada, September 2010).

METHODS. We studied fatal crashes and ambulance dispatches and hospital admissions for road trauma, using interrupted time series with multiple nonequivalent comparison series. We determined estimates of effect using linear regression models incorporating an autoregressive integrated moving average error term. We used neighboring jurisdictions (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Washington State) as external controls.

RESULTS. In the 2 years after implementation of the new laws, significant decreases occurred in fatal crashes (21.0%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 15.3, 26.4) and in hospital admissions (8.0%; 95% CI = 0.6, 14.9) and ambulance calls (7.2%; 95% CI = 1.1, 13.0) for road trauma. We found a very large reduction in alcohol-related fatal crashes (52.0%; 95% CI = 34.5, 69.5), and the benefits of the new laws are likely primarily the result of a reduction in drinking and driving.

CONCLUSIONS. These findings suggest that laws calling for immediate sanctions for dangerous drivers can reduce road trauma and should be supported. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print August 14, 2014: e1-e9. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302068).


Language: en

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