In jurisdictions around the world there is an increasing demand for the use of alcohol ignition interlocks to reduce impaired driving. It is crucial that program administrators and practitioners understand behavioural patterns of offenders on an interlock to inform decision-making regarding the use of interlocks. This insight can guide administrators with regard to program development, implementation, and the use of program features. Previous research has focused on the behaviour of offenders on an interlock, specifically with respect to compliance with device requirements and program rules. In particular, offenders tend to blow fails or violate the conditions of the interlock program at a relatively high rate at the beginning of their participation and this behaviour quickly diminishes after offenders have been on the device for some time. The purpose of this current study is to further investigate behavioural patterns of offenders using interlock data organized by jurisdiction and sex for several violation types (e.g., restart violations and running retest violations). As such, the current study aims to extend and bolster previous findings from an earlier study as well as uncover new patterns using data collected from three states: Texas, California and Florida. Using interlock data provided by LifeSafer which were drawn from the period between 1999 and 2012, events such as breath samples when trying to start the car, breath samples after having started the car, also known as a running retest, and attempts to skip the running retest were analysed in order to uncover relevant behavioural patterns. The results from this current study corroborate the findings from previous research, i.e., many offenders on an interlock are not compliant at the beginning of their program participation, but the majority of them soon become more compliant. It was found that such patterns were most pronounced in two states with stronger and more consistent monitoring practices (Texas and Florida) whereas these patterns were less pronounced in the state with less consistent monitoring practices (California). In terms of sex, no substantial differences between males and females were found. With respect to length of participation, it became clear that participants who are only in the program for a maximum of one year become compliant much faster than participants who are in the program for at least one year. These findings speak to the need for consistent monitoring of offenders as well as coupling interlock programs with other interventions like treatment for higher risk offenders. The findings further suggest that using not only negative reinforcements for bad behaviour but also using positive reinforcements for good behaviour may be beneficial. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting