Communities throughout the nation consistently use sobriety checkpoints and increased police patrols to detect drivers who are under the influence of alcohol. However, a Science Daily report examines the findings of a new review that suggests there is not enough evidence to say that the efforts effectively cut down the number of accidents and deaths that result from drunk driving.
“Increased police patrols might be effective, but we do not yet have enough evidence to prove that they are,” said lead reviewer Cynthia Goss of the Colorado Injury Control Research Center and the Colorado School of Public Health.
Driving while under the influence of alcohol is a common problem throughout the world. A U.S. survey found that 4.5 percent of adults reported having driven while impaired at least once in the last 12 months. According to the website for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), nearly 16,000 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related traffic crashes in 2006.
Reviewers evaluated 32 studies and found that in the majority, the specific intent of police interventions was to reduce driving under the influence. Others aimed to reduce other traffic violations such as speeding.
While most of the studies reported that increased police patrols reduced traffic crashes and deaths, reviewers felt that in most studies, the decreases may have been due to chance alone.
“Study quality cannot be separated from study results,” Goss said. “A poor-quality study can make the intervention look better —or worse — than it really is. We recommend that better-quality studies be done because our review suggests that increased police patrols are promising as a way to reduce alcohol-impaired driving.”
MADD officials disagree, arguing that they have sufficient proof that such checkpoints do in fact work and deter drunk driving. “Federal research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that sobriety checkpoints reduce alcohol-related crashes and fatalities by up to 24 percent,” said Laura Dean-Mooney, MADD national president. “Checkpoints are one of the most effective tools we have to deter drunk driving.”