Operation Safe Crossing : using science within a community intervention.

This paper describes the use of research data in managing and conducting a large drunk-driving enforcement program at the U.S./Mexican border to reduce the number of youths crossing the border to drink in Tijuana. Data from a border breath-test survey were used to dramatise the problem and gain public support for action. The data were also used to help design the enforcement effort and measure progress in reducing the cross-border drinking problem. Analysis of just less than 3 years of data involving more than 2 million pedestrians returning from Tijuana indicated that this effort reduced the number of late night crossers by 26%.