Abstract
This investigation of drinking and driving explored american attitudes, beliefs, legal knowledge and selfreported violations throughnational surveys in 1983 and 1986. The findings from 1986 replicated all of the basic drinking-driving control tactics reported in 1983, and there were modest gains in compliance rates over time. There was decrease in percieved certainty of arrests, but, in view of the compliance gains, this decrease seems to have been compensated by increases in legal knowledge, credibility of sanctions and personal support for drunk-driving controls. While there was support for some elements of simple deterrence theory, the findings are more fully accommodated by inculcation process implied in general deterrence theory.