New Zealand has a high rate of drink-driving accidents, especially for young drivers. A Community Alcohol Action Programme (CAAP) was conducted in the small city of Wanganui from May to July 1987. It first tested the alcohol server intervention programme, which was becoming widespread in the USA. It then expanded into a community-based programme, to raise public awareness about alcohol misuse and its effects. Its main enforcement method was random stopping, which was applied to 14,755 drivers, equivalent to about one licensed driver in 1.7. Evaluation was difficult, due to the small number of accidents during the period, proximity of another campaign against drink-driving, and lack of adequate data sources. The number of drinking drivers in reported injury accidents seems to have decreased substantially at about the time of the CAAP campaign, and to have remained appreciably lower than in 1986, until late 1989. No further campaigns were run until 1991. The objectives of the new campaigns were simplified, and were to: (1) reduce alcohol-related traffic injuries within a community by at least 50% for at least six months; and (2) estimate the extent of any reduction in alcohol-related accidents.
Abstract