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by Frank Chaloupka Michael Grossman Henry Saffer National
Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. The purpose of this study
is to estimate the effects of drunk driving deterrents and other alcohol
related policies on drunk driving. The data set employed is an annual
time-series of state cross-sections for the 48 contiguous states of the
U.S. from 1982 through 1988. Total and alterative alcohol involved motor
vehicle fatality rates, for the general population and for 18 to 20 year
olds, are used as measures of drunk driving. The results indicate that
the most effective policies are increased beer taxes and mandatory administrative
license actions. Maintaining the beer tax at its real 1951 value would
have reduced fatalities by 11.5 percent annually, on average, during the
sample period. A mandatory administrative license sanction of one year
would have reduced fatalities by 9 percent. The next most effective policies
are a 21 year old legal drinking age, preliminary breath test and dram
shop laws and relatively large mandatory fines. These policies each reduce
total fatalities by about 5 to 6 percent. No plea bargaining provisions
and mandatory license sanctions upon conviction are also found to have
some deterrent effect. Other drunk driving laws tested include mandatory
jail sentences and community service options, illegal per se laws, and
open container laws. None of these were found to have a deterrent effect
on drunk driving.
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