Citation

Rauch WJ, Zador PL, Ahlin EM, Baum H, Duncan D, Raleigh R, Joyce J, Gretsinger N. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 2002; 2002: 289-294.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Alcohol-impaired driving legislation and sanctions have historically been aimed at the offender with multiple driving while intoxicated (DWI) convictions, with little or no attention paid to the first-time offender or to alcohol-related events other than DWI [such as administrative per se (APS) violations involving breath alcohol content (BrAC) of 0.10 or more, APS breath test refusal and probation before judgment (PBJ)]. It is a widely held belief among the legislature and judicial branches of state government that first offenders criminally convicted of an alcohol related traffic law are drivers with a single and isolated alcohol-related violation that results in arrest. This finding is inconsistent with published estimates that a person can drive while impaired by alcohol 200 to 2,000 times before being arrested once for alcohol-impaired driving (1-6). Moreover, some drivers manage to have their records expunged under certain conditions, and many state motor vehicle administration (MVA) offices routinely purge driving records after a set number of years. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the typical so-called first-time offender will have had an extensive history of alcohol-impaired driving by the time he or she makes it into the MVA's record system. The current research examines the relative risk of alcohol-related recidivism among drivers with one, two and three or more alcohol-related events (not just convictions) and expands prior research (7) using an updated data set. Our findings suggest that first-time alcohol-related traffic offenders are at a high and significant risk of reoffending even after one alcohol-related event and that alcohol-impaired driving recidivism among first offenders more closely resembles that of multiple alcohol offenders. The results demonstrate that any alcohol-related traffic event (APS BrAC of 0.10 or more, APS breath refusal, and PBJ), not just convictions, should be perceived by the courts, the MVA, and physicians as a marker for future alcohol-related recidivism. The results also suggest that relative risk among females is similar to the risk among males once females have had one alcohol-related event.