Early studies suggested that driving while intoxicated (DWI) arrests and alcohol-related crashes were twice as high for Hispanics as for non Hispanics in some geographical regions of the United States. In light of the Hispanic population increases in Texas, the study presented in this scientific poster examined to what extent this over-representation might hold true for Texas as well. Four years of data from the Texas Accident Database (1991 through 1994) were analyzed. A total of 2,851,495 drivers were involved in traffic crashes. Of these, 132,983 drivers were determined to be under the influence of alcohol. About 33% of the alcohol-related traffic crashes in Texas involve male Hispanic drivers, drivers, yet these drivers account for only 25% of the State's driving population. Among crash-involved male drivers, Hispanics are reported to be DWI in 10.1% of their crashes, whereas the corresponding figures for White and Black male drivers are 6.3% and 5.5%, respectively. DWI crashes involving female Hispanic drivers are somewhat below the level reported for White female drivers, 1.9% versus 2.2%. The data also reveal that 29.2% of the crash-involved male Hispanic drivers who were DWI were also unlicensed or of unknown license status at the time of the incident, compared with 7.7% of the White male driver population.
Samenvatting