TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Effect of Maryland's 2011 alcohol sales tax increase on alcohol-positive driving
JO  - American journal of preventive medicine
A1  - Lavoie, Marie-Claude
A1  - Langenberg, Patricia
A1  - Villaveces, Andrés
A1  - Dischinger, Patricia C.
A1  - Simoni-Wastila, Linda
A1  - Hoke, Kathleen
A1  - Smith, Gordon C. S.
SP  - 17
EP  - 24
VL  - 53
IS  - 1
N2  - INTRODUCTION: The 2011 Maryland alcohol sales tax increase from 6% to 9% provided an opportunity to evaluate the impact on rates of alcohol-positive drivers involved in injury crashes. <br><br>METHODS: Maryland police crash reports from 2001 to 2013 were analyzed using an interrupted time series design and a multivariable analysis employing generalized estimating equations models with a negative binomial distribution. Data were analyzed in 2014-2015. <br><br>RESULTS: There was a significant gradual annual reduction of 6% in the population-based rate of all alcohol-positive drivers (p<0.03), and a 12% reduction for drivers aged 15-20 years (p<0.007), and 21-34 years (p<0.001) following the alcohol sales tax increase. There were no significant changes in rates of alcohol-positive drivers aged 35-54 years (rate ratio, 0.98; 95% CI=0.89, 1.09). Drivers aged ≥55 years had a significant immediate 10% increase in the rate of alcohol-positive drivers (rate ratio, 1.10; 95% CI=1.04, 1.16) and a gradual increase of 4.8% per year after the intervention. Models using different denominators and controlling for multiple factors including a proxy for unmeasured factors found similar results overall. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: The 2011 Maryland alcohol sales tax increase led to a significant reduction in the rate of all alcohol-positive drivers involved in injury crashes especially among drivers aged 15-34 years. This is the first study to examine the impact of alcohol sales taxes on crashes; previous research focused on excise tax. Increasing alcohol taxes is an important but often neglected intervention to reduce alcohol-impaired driving.<br><br>Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0749-3797
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2016.12.011
ID  - ref1
ER  -