@article{ref1,
title="Traffic Crash Injuries Among 15- to 19-Year-Olds and Minimum Purchasing Age for Alcohol in New Zealand",
journal="American journal of public health",
year="2005",
author="Kypri, Kypros and Voas, Robert B. and Langley, John Desmond and Stephenson, S. C. R. and Begg, Dorothy Jean and Tippetts, Anthony Scott and Davie, Gabrielle S.",
volume="96",
number="1",
pages="126-131",
abstract="Objectives. In 1999, New Zealand lowered the minimum purchasing age for alcohol from 20 to 18. We tested the hypothesis that this increased traffic crash injuries among 15- to 19-year-olds. Methods. Poisson regression was used to compute incidence rate ratios for the after to before incidence of alcohol-involved crashes and hospitalized injuries among 18- to 19-year-olds and 15- to 17-year-olds (20- to 24-year-olds were the reference). Results. Among men, the ratio of the alcohol-involved crash rate after the law change to the period before was 12% larger (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.00, 1.25) for 18- to 19-year-olds and 14% larger (95% CI=1.01, 1.30) for 15- to 17-yearolds, relative to 20- to 24-year-olds. Among women, the equivalent ratios were 51% larger (95% CI=1.17, 1.94) for 18- to 19-year-olds and 24% larger (95% CI=0.96, 1.59) for 15- to 17-year-olds. A similar pattern was observed for hospitalized injuries. Conclusions. Significantly more alcohol-involved crashes occurred among 15- to 19-year-olds than would have occurred had the purchase age not been reduced to 18. The effect size for 18- to 19-year-olds is remarkable given the legal exceptions to the pre-1999 law and its poor enforcement.",
language="",
issn="0090-0036",
doi="10.2105/AJPH.2005.073122",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2005.073122"
}