Newswise, February 3, 2017 — Driving while impaired (DWI)
causes more than 10,000 deaths per year in the United States. Although
enforcing criminal sanctions for DWI is the traditional response, the success
of these measures has been inconsistent.
This study looked at risk perceptions as a method of reducing
the frequency of DWI - in other words, whether the threat of being apprehended
for DWI can deter people from engaging in this behavior.
Researchers examined survey data collected from individual
drivers, police, and defense attorneys specializing in DWI in eight U.S.
cities.
They compared two measures to determine which was a better
deterrent of alcohol-impaired driving: the threat of being apprehended for DWI
or harsher penalties for DWI.
Individuals reported that a greater perceived chance of being
pulled over for DWI corresponded to less alcohol-impaired driving on their
part.
Conversely, individual perceptions of DWI penalties were
unrelated to their self-reports of current or future alcohol-impaired driving.
The authors suggested that increasing the certainty of apprehension by
increasing police staffing and/or conducting more sobriety checks would likely
be more effective in reducing alcohol-impaired driving than legislating
increased penalties.
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