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Voas, R.B.; Romano, E.; and Peck, R.C. In Proceedings of the T2007 Joint International Meeting of TIAFT/ICADTS/IIS, August 26-30, (2007) Objective: The goal of this paper is to investigate the factors that shape the prevalence of alcohol-related crashes beyond those that affect the occurrence of non-alcohol related crashes.
Method: We used data from Blomberg et al. (2005). The Blomberg et al. (2005) study, funded by NHTSA as a replication of the classical Borkenstein Grand Rapids study (Rec # 218 - Borkenstein, et al., 1974), included a comprehensive sampling of non-fatal crashes and matched control vehicles in two US locations: Long Beach (CA) and Fort Lauderdale (FL). Sampling in Long Beach was collected from 4 PM to 2 am between June 1997 and September 1998, and in Fort Lauderdale, from 5 PM to 3 am between September 1998 and September 1999. In all, data were available on 3,093 crashes and 6,759 matched controls. To explore the relationship between impaired driving and crashes we studied the factors that shape the occurrence of the following four groups: Drivers who had a crash and registered a BAC >=.05; Drivers who had a crash and registered a BAC =.00; Drivers who have not crashed (control) and registered a BAC >=.05; and Drivers who have not crashed (control) and registered a BAC =.00. We deliberately excluded drivers with 0= .05 driver.
Results: Among the main findings of this study, we found that as expected, starting a trip at a bar is associated with impaired driving (particularly those ending in crashes). Also, although underage and female drivers were less likely to drive or crash while impaired than drivers ages 21+ and men, respectively, they are more likely to be involved in a non-alcohol related crash than their respective counterparts. In our within-crash comparisons, we found that less than ideal weather conditions increases the likelihood of having an alcohol related crash (driver's BAC > .00), but does not increases the odds for drivers with a BAC >= .05 over the .00 .00) compared against BAC=.00 drivers, as well as for BAC >= .05 drivers compared with .00
Conclusion: This study confirms that the factors shaping the occurrence of motor vehicle crashes are not necessarily identical for alcohol-related and non-related crashes, and that some of them may even have opposite roles depending on the driver's BAC level.
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