A DRINKING-DRIVING PROGRAMME INTRODUCED IN ONE BOROUGH OF TORONTO, CANADA, IS EVALUATED. BASED ON EVIDENCE FROM PREVIOUS PROGRAMMES JUDGED EFFECTIVE, IT COMBINED A HIGHLY VISIBLE "RANDOM" SPOT-CHECK ENFORCEMENT COMPONENT WITH A DRINKING-DRIVING EDUCATIONAL COMPONENT. A THREE-WAVE TELEPHONE SURVEY SHOWED SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE OF DRINKING AND DRIVING AND OF THE PROGRAMME IN THE EXPERIMENTAL AREA. THE SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF ARREST RISK WAS INCREASED FOR THE "AVERAGE DRIVER" BUT NOT FOR "MYSELF". UNFORTUNATELY, ONLY INDIRECT EVIDENCE WAS AVAILABLE ON DRIVER BEHAVIOUR AND THIS TENDED TO INDICATE FEWER IMPAIRED DRIVERS ON THE ROAD. FINALLY, POLICE REPORTED ALCOHOL-RELATED ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES INDICATED AN OVERALL DOWNWARD TREND IN TORONTO, BUT THE URBAN NATURE AND RESTRICTED SIZE OF THE EXPERIMENT'S GEOGRAPHIC UNIT, AS WELL AS SIMILAR CHANGES IN CONTROL AREAS AND CONTAMINATIONS TO THE DATA RENDERED THE ANALYSIS HIGHLY AMBIGUOUS. THUS, THE PROGRAMME EXPERIENCED SOME POSITIVE ALTHOUGH BY NO MEANS CONCLUSIVE INDICATORS OF SUCCESS.(Author/publisher).
Abstract