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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Drinking, Driving, and Crashing: A Traffic-Flow Model of Alcohol-Related Motor Vehicle Accidents


This study examined the influence of on-premise alcohol-outlet densities and of drinking-driver densities on rates of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.

A traffic-flow model is developed to represent geographic relationships between residential locations of drinking drivers, alcohol outlets, and alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes.

Cross-sectional analyses showed that effects relating on-premise densities to alcohol-related crashes were moderated by highway traffic flow. Depending on levels of highway traffic flow, 10% greater densities were related to 0% to 150% greater rates of SVN crashes. Time-series cross-sectional analyses showed that changes in the population pool of drinking drivers and on-premise densities interacted to increase SVN crash rates.

A simple traffic-flow model can assess the effects of on-premise alcohol-outlet densities and of drinking-driver densities as they vary across communities to produce alcohol-related crashes. Analyses based on these models can usefully guide policy decisions on the siting of on-premise alcohol outlets.


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