Effect of State Coalitions to Reduce Underage Drinking: A National Evaluation

Summarizes an evaluation of how the RWJF-funded Reducing Underage Drinking Through Coalitions Project to reduce youth drinking changed media coverage of alcohol-related issues, state policy, youth drinking behaviors, and alcohol-related driving behaviors

Mandatory child restraint laws: Impact on childhood injuries due to traffic crashes

Research has indicated that laws requiring use of restraint devices for young children traveling in automobiles have had significant effects in increasing restraint use and reducing crash-related childhood injuries. This study examined dimensions along which the effectiveness of Michigan's April 1982 mandatory child restraint law varied. All children involved in motor vehicle crashes in Michigan from January 1978 through December 1982 were analyzed using multivariate intervention analysis methods. Research revealed that the effectiveness of the law in reducing childhood injuries was primarily due to reductions in less severe injuries occurring in crashed vehicles experiencing low to moderate levels of damage. Furthermore, the mechanism for the law's effects was not simply an increase in restraint use. In addition, the number of children riding in the more dangerous front-seat and cargo-area positions apparently decreased following implementation of the law, with children increasingly riding in the safer rear-seat position.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25711/1/0000267.pd

Effects of mandatory seat belt laws on traffic fatalities in the first eight states enacting seat belt laws. Final report

Notes: Report covers the period 1 July 1986 - 30 June 1987Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, Detroit, Mich.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/38/2/74648.0001.001.pd

Preventing highway crashes by raising the legal minimum age for drinking: The Michigan experience 6 years later

Results of a 6-year follow-up of previous research evaluating the effects of Michigan's December 1978 increase in the legal drinking age from 18 to 21 are reported. Earlier research demonstrated the immediate effect of Michigan's raised legal age in reducing motor vehicle crash involvement among young drivers. The current study examined 6 years of post-law traffic crash data, using Box-Jenkins intervention analysis methods to assess the long-term effects of the raised drinking age. Results revealed long-term ef- fects of the law similar to the initial effects identified earlier. Over the 6-year follow-up period, the rate of involvement in injury-producing single-vehicle nighttime crashes among drivers age 18-20 was 16 % lower than the level ex- pected, had the drinking age law not changed. Police-reported drinking driver crash involvement was down 19%. In contrast to many alcohol-im- paired driving countermeasures, the raised legal drinking age appears to have a long-term effect in reducing motor vehicle crash involvement among young drivers.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26021/1/0000092.pd

Preventing highway crashes by raising the legal minimum age for drinking: An empirical confirmation

In recent years there has been increased interest in reducing the massive social costs due to alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes. Raising the legal minimum age for purchase and consumption of alcohol beverages has been proposed as one way to reduce alcohol-related crashes among young drivers. Currently, many states are raising the legal age, in contrast to the trend towards lower legal drinking ages in the early 1970s. Recent studies of the effects of raising the drinking age are reviewed, and results from a controlled multiple time-series evaluation of the experience in Michigan are presented. Significant 11 to 28% reductions in alcohol-related crash involvements are shown to be attributable to the raised drinking age in Michigan. Suggestions for further research and discussion of policy implications are included.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/23930/1/0000176.pd

Are there really shortcuts? estimating seat belt use with self-report measures

We examined the utility of estimating rates of automobile seat belt use with selfreport measures. Self-report measures overestimate belt use rates compared to observational surveys of the same population. Laws mandating seat belt use did not substantially affect the degree to which self-reports are upwardly biased. We found self-report measures overestimate observed belt use by 8.9 to 19.4 percentage points or by a factor of 1.2 to 2. Our best estimate is that self-reported seat belt use rates be discounted by 12 percentage points to estimate actual belt use rates.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27668/1/0000050.pd

Effects of a mandatory safety belt law on hospital admissions

Although the effectiveness of automobile safety belts in reducing risk of serious injury in traffic crashes is well documented, safety belt use in many U.S. jurisdictions remains low. Michigan's mandatory safety belt law for front-seat occupants, implemented in July 1985, is one of 34 similar laws in the United States intended to increase belt use and reduce crash-related injuries. Using time-series intervention analyses of data from 14 hospitals throughout the state, we found a 19% reduction in the rate of admitted patients for all automobile occupant injuries and a 20% reduction in the rate of admitted patients with extremity injuries following implementation of the safety belt law. The utility of hospital data for the evaluation of interventions like the safety belt law reinforce the importance of consistently recording E-codes for all injury patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28539/1/0000337.pd

The legal minimum drinking age in texas: Effects of an increase from 18 to 19

Effects on motor vehicle crash involvement of raising the legal drinking age in Texas from 18 to 19 were examined, using an interrupted time-series design. Rates of single-vehicle-nighttime (SVN) and non-SVN crashes per 100,000 licensed drivers from 1978 through 1984 were examined for three levels of crash severity (serious injury, minor injury, property damage only) and four age groups (16-17, 18, 19-20, 21 and over). Results revealed significant reductions in SVN crashes for the 18-year-old target population across all levels of crash severity: serious injury, down 10.8% ; minor injury, down 14.3% ; and property damage only, down 12.8%. In comparison, no significant changes in SVN crashes among drivers age 21 and over were found. When the effects of macroeconomic conditions on crash rates were controlled statistically, no change in the estimated effect of the legal age law was seen. It is clear that the 1-year increase in legal age in Texas had a significant effect on youth crash involvement.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/26362/1/0000449.pd

Licit and illicit drug policies: a typology

To foster comparison of policy interventions across the various categories of licit and illicit drugs, we develop a typology of policies intended to address drug abuse problems. The principal dimensions of the typology are policy type and intervention channel. While the typology has important limitations, as a mechanism to organize information and stimulate thought it holds the potential to improve understanding of commonalities and distinctions among policies applying to widely discrepant drug problems, both within and across cultures. As such, it could contribute to the development of more effective approaches to grappling with a diverse set of drug policy issues.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73129/1/j.1360-0443.1990.tb03081.x.pd

Characteristics of child safety seat users

Direct observation of child restraint use was combined with interviews and mail questionnaires to measure prevalence of various child restraint practices and factors related to use of child safety seats and seat belts for children under the age of four. Trained observers assessed multiple dimensions of child restraint practices for a sample of motorists entering fastfood parking lots in Michigan. On-site interviews and follow-up questionnaires measured sociodemographic, attitudinal, belief, and behavioral characteristics related to restraint use. Ninety-two percent of infants under age 1 and 55% of children age 1 to 3 were traveling in a child safety seat. Public support for the mandatory child restraint law was very high--9 out of 10 believed it should be strictly enforced. Child restraint use was lower than average among motorists who: (1) had low family incomes, (2) were not currently married, (3) were of nonwhite ethnic backgrounds, and (4) were over the age of 40. A shift in social norms appears to have occurred in recent years, such that restraint of young children traveling in cars is now socially expected behavior. Recommendations include: (1) continuing educational efforts to increase knowledge of mandatory child restraint use laws, and (2) increased enforcement of mandatory child restraint use laws.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27201/1/0000204.pd