Risk factors for repeat drink driving, an important road safety issue, are well known. However, apart from the findings of a recent New South Wales study, estimates of Australian recidivism rates by risk factors are not well known. The driving records of a cohort of Queensland drink drivers participating in a drink driving rehabilitation program were matched by age, region, blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level and prior offence and used to estimate sex-specific two-and five-year re-offence rates overall.Estimates of the proportion of Queensland drink drivers with a prior drink driving (DD) offence in 2004 were used to standardise rates to the Queensland drink driving population. Rates were higher in remote areas, as were rates in males, young drivers, drivers with high BAC levels and drivers with prior DD convictions (this was especially true of drivers with at least two prior DD convictions). Five-year rates for Queensland were estimated as 21.8% in males and 16.4% in females, appreciably higher than in New South Wales. (Author/publisher)
Abstract