The effects of licence disqualification on drink-drivers: Is it the same for everyone?

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Drink-driving remains a major road safety concern that creates a significant social burden. Licence disqualification continues to play a key role in drink driving deterrence and sanctions together with police enforcement to address the problem in most motorised countries. However, on-going questions remain regarding the differing effect of licence disqualification periods between first time and repeat offenders, and between other sub-groups of offenders. As a result, this study aimed to determine whether: (a) differences exist in re-offence rates of convicted drink-drivers between: the period between committing the drink-driving offence and licence disqualification (pre-licence disqualification), during the period of licence disqualification, and after being re-licensed (post-licence restoration); and (b) differential effects of offence rates are evident based on Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), gender, age, repeat offender status and crash involvement at the time of offence. The sample consisted of 29,204 drink-driving offenders detected in Victoria, Australia between 1 January 1996 and 30 September 2002. The analysis indicated that licence disqualifications were effective as drink-driving offenders had a significantly lower rate of offending (both drink-driving and other traffic offences) during licence disqualifications compared to pre-licence disqualification and post-licence restoration periods. The influence of licence disqualification appeared to extend beyond the disqualification period, as offence rates were lower during post-licence restoration than during pre-licence disqualification. Interestingly, the highest rate of offending (both for drink-driving and other traffic offences) was during the pre-licence disqualification period, which suggests offenders are particularly vulnerable to drink and drive while waiting to be sanctioned. A consistent pattern of results was evident across genders and age groups. Additionally, those who were involved in a crash at the same time as their index offence had lower offence rates (compared to those who were not involved in a crash) for all periods, although for general traffic offences, the offence rate was highest in the post-licence restoration period for those who had a crash at index offence. This indicates that being involved in a crash may deter these offenders, at least in the short-term. The implications of the results for managing both first time and repeat offenders are discussed

Articles Elicited by Medline Using the Mesh Term “Mood Stabilizer”

<p>Articles Elicited by Medline Using the Mesh Term “Mood Stabilizer”</p

Author's Graph of <i>p</i>-Value Function Based on Data in [ 30]

<p>(Illustration: Sapna Khandwala)</p

Healy et al Incidence of Schizophrenia - workbook

This file is the Excel workbook containing the diagnostic data and the population data for North Wales against which the diagnostic rates have been standardized

Healy et al Incidence of Schizophrenia - table

Healy et al Incidence of Schizophrenia - tabl

RIAT Restoring Study 329 data files

Zip file containing: Original SKB CSR (both Appendix D & Appendix G); ii) RIAT Excel spreadsheet for Harms/Adverse Event data; RIAT Excel spreadsheet for Withdrawals/dropouts from the study. R code used to analyse Efficacy data; Original SKB Study 329 Trial protocol which was followed in Restoring Study 329 (RIAT)

Neurofeedback protocol.

<p>During the neurofeedback runs (3 in each of the 4 sessions), participants alternated between 20 s periods of rest and 20 s periods where they had to upregulate activity in the target area. The level of activation was fed back in real time (updated for each TR of 2 s) through the thermometer display.</p

Network activation and deactivation during neurofeedback.

<p>a) Activation of the insular cortex (INS) bilaterally and the right ventral striatum (VS) supported the neurofeedback task, whereas the temporoparietal junctions (TPJ) of both hemispheres were deactivated. The TPJ is recognised as part of the brain’s “default mode network” that is deactivated during effortful tasks. For a full documentation of the activated and deactivated networks see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0038115#pone-0038115-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>. View from the front and above. The right side of the brain is on the observer’s left (Talairach coordinates of virtual cuts: y = 25, z = −2). b) Successive training sessions produced further increases of activation during upregulation periods in the VS bilaterally (coronal view at y = 7, the right side of the brain is on the observer’s left).</p

Neurofeedback-related activation and deactivation (group whole-brain analysis).

<p>Abbreviations: See <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0038115#pone-0038115-t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>; additionally: DMPFC  =  dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; HC  =  hippocampal complex; IFG  =  inferior frontal gyrus; PHG  =  parahippocampal gyrus; PVC  =  primary visual cortex; TPJ  =  temporo-parietal junction; VS  =  ventral striatum; EVC  =  extrastriate visual cortex.</p

Patient demographic characteristics.

<p>Patient demographic characteristics.</p