The report reviews the history of laws relating to drinking and driving in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. It also summarizes the arguments made in favour of the deterrent effect, which are said to be found unconvincing. Interrupted time-series analysis is applied to a series of accident casualty data from Sweden and Norway which could be expected to indicate changes corresponding to the introduction of the legal reforms. While these expectations are not fulfilled the failure to find support for the deterrent is not seen to disprove the hypothesis but indicates that the widespread faith in its effect is without firm proof. It is suggested that continuation of current policy in Norway and Sweden, and its adoption elsewhere, should be more tentative and subject to more scrutiny and critical evaluation than has so far been the case. The report is reprinted from the Journal of Legal Studies, Volume 4, no 2, June 1975.
Samenvatting