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Research Topics About Drunk Driving

• Penalties for Drunk Driving: Criminal Charges for Causing Death While Driving Under the Influence
• Campaigns to Combat Drunk Driving
• Alcohol-Impaired Driving: Cause, Effect, and Control
• The Relationship between Breath Testing and Drunk Driving Demand
• Evidence on Punishment and Deterrence from Drunk Driving
• Seatbelt Use Following More Stringent Drunk Driving Laws
• Managing the Problem of Teenage Drinking and Driving
• The Intentional and Unintentional Consequences of Drunk Driving Policies
• Increase Penalties for Repeated Drunk Driving Offenders
• Preferred Drunk Driving Punishment Structure
• Alcohol and Drunk Driving Are Among the Leading Causes of Death.
• Technology Against Drunk Driving for U.S. Automakers
• Death Penalty for Drunk Driving: Should Drunk Drivers Who Kill Someone Get the Death Penalty?
• Repeat Offenders Can Be Prevented from Drunk Driving
• The Suffering and Pain That Drunk Driving Causes.
• State-Specific Drunk Driving Laws and Penalties in the United States
• The Necessity for More Stringent Drunk Driving Laws
• A View from the Economics of Crime on Preventing Drunk Driving Fatalities
• Evidence from Underage Drunk Driving Laws Concerning Youth Alcohol Use and Risky Sexual Behavior
• The Problem of Teenage Drinking and Driving in the United States: Causes and Solutions

Drunk Driving Essay Titles

• Relationships between Drunk Driving and Traffic Crashes
• Aggressive Strategies to Prevent Drunk Driving
• Impaired Driving Laws and Traffic Fatalities
• The Consequences of Drunk Driving on Society
• Drunk Driving and Drug Use Pose A Substantial Danger to Public Safety
• Deaths from Irresponsible Drinking and Drunk Driving
• Effects and Causes of Drunk Driving
• The Terrible Tragedy That Drunk Driving Has Caused in the United States
• The Reality of Drunk Driving: Why Drunk Driving Laws Should Be Stricter
• Dangers and Need for Preventing Drunk Driving
• Drunk Driving Following the Implementation of Smoking Bans in Bars
• Government and Society Should Collaborate to Eliminate Drunk Driving
• America Needs Better Drunk Driving Laws
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving: from the Ground Up to Policy
• Evidence from Underage Drunk Driving Laws Regarding Heavy Alcohol Use and the Commitment of Nuisance Crime
• Psychological Foundations of Drunk Driving
• Comparison of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Urban League
• Preventing Teen Drinking and Driving
• License Revocation and Impaired Driving
• Drunk Driving Fatalities: Exigent Solution
• What Is Teenage Drunk Driving, and What Happens When the Phrase “Drunk Driving” Is Heard?
• Why Does Drunk Driving Occur?
• Why Should Drunk Driving Laws Be Made Stricter?
• How Has Drinking and Driving Affected A Student?
• Did Ontario’s Zero Tolerance and Graduated Licensing Laws Reduce Drunk Driving Among Teenagers?
• Can Police Deter Drunk Driving?
• What Are the Effects and Cause Essays on Drunk Driving?
• What Is the Issue with Drinking and Driving?
• What Are the Five Telltale Signs of An Impaired Driver?
• What Is the Definition of Drunk Driving?
• Is It A Drunk Driver or A Drunken Driver?
• Why Do Drunk Drivers Manage to Survive?
• Why Are Drunk Drivers Treated So Lightly?
• What Is the Remedy for Drunk Driving?
• How Can You Stop Drinking and Driving?
• What Do Drivers Need Three Seconds to Accomplish?
• How Long After Drinking Is It Safe to Drive?
• What Are the Penalties for A First Offense of Driving Under the Influence?
• Do You Accumulate Points for Drunk Driving?
• What Are Some Common Driving Distractions?
• What Are the Consequences of Drunk Driving?
• How Might One Best Defend Against A Drunk Driving Charge?
• What Do Police Frequently Look for in Drunk Drivers on the Road?
• Why Does America Need to Improve Its Drunk Driving Laws?
• How Do We Tackle the Problem of Teenage Drunk Driving?
• What Are Deterring Drunk Driving Fatalities?
• Did Ontario’s Zero Tolerance and Graduated Licensing Laws Reduce Drunk Driving Among Teens?
• What Are the Psychological Roots of Driving Under the Influence?
• What Are the Argumentative Effects of Free Drunk Driving on Society?
• What Are Effective Punishments for Drunk Driving in Wisconsin?

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99 Drunk Driving Argumentative Essay Topics & Examples

🔝 top-5 drunk driving argumentative essay topics, 🏆 best drunk driving topic ideas & essay examples, 🔥 hottest drunk driving essay topics, ⭐ good research topics about drunk driving, 💡 how to choose a research title about drunk driving, 👍 simple & easy drunk driving essay titles, 🍻 latest drunk driving research questions, ❓ research questions about drunk driving, 🚗 how to prevent drunk driving essay ideas.

• Drunk Driving and Its Consequences
• Drunk Drivers Should Be Imprisoned on the First Offense
• On the Issue of Drunk Driving
• Drunk Driving vs. Texting While Driving
• Teenage Drunk Driving Issue Analysis
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving and National Public Radio’s Cultural Modes In Mothers Against Drunk Driving and National Public Radio, and National Public Radio, a proactive society is created in terms of norms and values, thanks to the organization’s beneficial system benefits the contributors’ financiers alike.
• Deterring the Drunk Driver: An Investigation of the Effectiveness of DUI Legislation Despites various legalizations in the prevention of repeat DUI offenses, research shows that the do little in the prevention of first time DUI offenses.
• Public Service Ads Against Drunk Driving The PSA includes the imagery of glasses filled with alcoholic drinks crashing against each other with the sound of a car accident in the background.
• Mandatory Jail Terms for Drunk Driving: A Necessary Deterrent? A person who exceeded the norms of alcohol, and was driving home, is a violation that does not correspond to the punishment of spending a certain time in jail.
• Drunk Driving Issue Analysis One finds that the deep changes in the body composition of drinkers after drinking; one would anticipate alcohol to have as a minimum various straight outcomes on behavior.
• Tougher Laws Against Drunk Driving It must begin with laws that lower the limit so that drivers with a BAC of 0. 05 must not be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.
• Public Policy: The Issue of Drunk Driving The Government puts a great amount of effort into the DUI policy to minimize the number of impaired drivers getting behind the wheel and mitigating the consequences of such conduct.
• Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol One of the implications of the adolescent and adult driving while intoxicated is enduring the life after the occurrence of breaking the law.
• Addressing Drunk Driving: Policies and Their Effectiveness Driving under the influence is known to be one of the most threatening tendencies in the world of nowadays. One of the most common policies provided in order to decrease the risk of drunken driving […]
• Alcohol and Drugs in Fatally Injured Drivers The researchers targeted to examine the prevalence of drugs in a sample of drivers. The other variables included the time of the crash, and fatalities reported after the accident.
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving It is useful to victims of drunken driving and to the families of the deceased victims as a result of drunk driving.
• Drunk Driving Problem in the Modern Society I strongly believe that drunk driving is the problem which must be solved, however, the solutions to the problem which have already existed could not eliminate the problem.

Famous Campaigns to Combat Drunk Driving

The tragic outcomes and alarming statistics of driving under the influence indicate the need to create campaigns that resonate with drivers from all age groups. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration battles the problem by raising awareness, taking legal action against offenders, and encouraging community involvement. The final goal is to reduce the number of incidents on American roads and make them safe for everyone.

How to Get People to Stop Drunk Driving?

Alcohol intoxication is among the major reasons for motor vehicle incidents. When a group of friends celebrates a promotion or has a party that involves drinking, there’s a big chance one of them might get behind the wheel later. It’s in the best interest of everyone to avoid such situations and never let a drunk person drive.

Impaired Driving Laws in Canada

Since drunk driving is a huge issue in Canada, the government implements laws to address it. The federal Criminal Code outlines the driving offenses, penalties, and enforcement procedures. Breaking these regulations may result in driving prohibitions, fines, or even jail time.

Risk of Driving Injuries in Young People

While incidents happen to drivers of all ages, young people represent the most vulnerable group. Lack of driving skills and risky behavior often cause accidents involving young adults. For that reason, unique models are being developed to ensure safety and reduce casualties among youths.

Do Older or Younger Drivers Have More Accidents?

Every time the subject of who is the most dangerous driver on the road is raised, opinions divide. Some state that older people lack quick reflexes, while others believe that youngsters are reckless. The numbers show that teenage male drivers are the ones who get into accidents most often.

• Penalties for Drunk Driving: Criminal Charges for Killing Someone When Drunk Driving
• Campaigns Against Drunk Driving
• Drunk Driving Cause, Effect, and Control
• Breath Testing and the Demand for Drunk Driving
• Punishment and Deterrence: Evidence From Drunk Driving
• Seatbelt Use Following Stricter Drunk Driving Regulations
• Dealing With the Problem of Teenage Drunk Driving
• The Intended and Unintended Effects of Drunk Driving Policies
• Increasing Penalties for Drunk Driving Repeat Offenders
• Optimal Drunk Driving Penalty Structure
• Alcohol and Drunk Driving Is One of the Most Frequent Causes of Death
• Anti-drunk Driving Tech for U.S. Carmakers
• Death Penalty for Drunk Driving: Should Drunk Drivers Get the Death Penalty if They Kill Someone?
• Drunk Driving Stopping Repeat Offenders
• The Pain and Suffering Caused by Drunk Driving
• Drunk Driving Laws and Penalties by State in the USA
• The Need for Stricter Drunk Driving Laws
• Deterring Drunk Driving Fatalities: An Economics of Crime Perspective
• Youth Alcohol Use and Risky Sexual Behavior: Evidence From Underage Drunk Driving Laws
• The Causes and Solutions to the Problem of Teenage Drunk Driving in the U.S.

Can’t find a good theme for your essay on driving under the influence? Check out our excellent tips below:

• Consider your preferences. You will enjoy writing your paper if you’re genuinely curious about the issue at hand.
• Consult the teacher. Your professors know your field of study best and can have great ideas for you to research.
• Understand your readers. Knowing who you write for is essential if you want to make a paper enjoyable for them.
• Follow the criteria. Make sure to read through the guidelines before settling on a particular issue.

Still unsure which topic to pick? Here are some areas of research you may find interesting:

• Drunk driving campaigns. This sector focuses on the policies that promote sober driving. It studies human drivers’ psychology and applies strategies that help keep the road safe.
• Driving injuries and their risks. This field is concerned with raising awareness of the danger of careless driving and ensuring road safety measures.
• Teenage drunk driving. This study area looks for ways to reduce traffic incidents that involve adolescents.
• Mothers vs. driving under the influence. Mothers are among those who most strongly oppose drunk driving. Your paper can examine parents’ involvement in preventing road incidents.
• Links Between Drunk Driving and Road Accidents
• Aggressive Methods of Preventing Drunk Driving
• Drunk Driving Legislation and Traffic Fatalities
• Drunk Driving: Its Effects on the Society
• Drunk Driving and Drugs Are a Significant Threat to Public Safety
• Irresponsible Drinking and Drunk Driving Deaths
• Cause and Effect of Drunk Driving
• The Terrible Tragedies Caused by Drunk Driving in the United States
• The Truth About Drunk Driving: Why the Drunk Driving Laws Should Be Worse
• Dangers and Need for Preventing Drunk Driving
• Drunk Driving After the Passage of Smoking Bans in Bars
• Society and the Government Should Work Together to Eliminate Drunk Driving
• America Needs Better Drunk Driving Laws
• Mothers Against Drunk Driving: Grassroots Movement to Policy
• Heavy Alcohol Use and the Commission of Nuisance Crime: Evidence From Underage Drunk Driving Laws
• The Psychological Roots of Drunk Driving
• Comparing Mothers Against Drunk Driving and National Urban Leagues
• Preventing Adolescent Drunk Driving
• License Suspension and Drunk Driving
• Drunk Driving Fatalities: Exigent Solution

If you need a research question for a project on driving under the influence, check the list below to get inspired:

• How does drunk driving affect the families of the victims and offenders? In your essay, explore the consequences of driving under the influence and why families suffer the most. You can mention emotional, social, and financial impact.
• The danger of driving while intoxicated: why do alcohol-impaired accidents often result in more severe injuries? This piece can examine how substances such as drugs and alcohol impact a driver’s ability to react and control a vehicle.
• How does media coverage affect public perceptions of drunk driving? The media can both negatively and positively impact people’s reactions to DWI incidents. In your paper, study how its ability to shape the narrative and spread information can alter public opinion.
• Drunk driving prevention: what is the link between alcohol abuse and mental health issues? Your paper can research whether ensuring people’s psychological welfare can help reduce traffic incidents.
• What’s Drunk Driving Among Teens, and What Happens When Hearing the Phrase “Drunk Driving”?
• Why Drunk Driving Happens?
• Why Should the Drunk Driving Laws Be Worse?
• How Drunk Has Driving Impacted a Student?
• Did Ontario’s Zero Tolerance & Graduated Licensing Law Reduce Youth Drunk Driving?
• Can Police Deter Drunk Driving?
• What Are Cause and Effect Essay on Drunk Driving?
• What Is the Problem With Drunk Driving?
• What Are the Five Signs of a Drunk Driver?
• What Is Meant by Drunken Driving?
• Is It a Drunk Driver or a Drunken Driver?
• Why Do Drunk Drivers Survive?
• Why Do Drunk Drivers Get off Easy?
• What Is the Solution to Drunk Driving?
• How Do You Stop Drunk Driving?
• What Does It Take Drivers Three Seconds to Do?
• How Long After Drinking Can You Drive?
• What Is the Penalty in Case of Drunken Driving for the First Offense?
• Do You Get Points for Drunk Driving?
• What Are Some Distractions While Driving?
• What Is the Punishment for Drunk Driving?
• What Is the Best Way to Beat a Drunk Driving Charge?
• What Do Cops Often Look For From Drunk Drivers on the Road?
• Why Does America Need Better Drunk Driving Laws?
• What Is Dealing With the Problem of Teenage Drunk Driving?
• What Are Deterring Drunk Driving Fatalities?
• Did Ontario’s Zero Tolerance and Graduated Licensing Law Reduce Youth Drunk Driving?
• What Are the Psychological Roots of Drunk Driving?
• What Are the Effects to the Society Argumentative of Free Drunk Driving?
• What Are Good Drunk Driving Punishments in Wisconsin?

Here are our top 4 excellent topics on preventing drunk driving and ensuring road safety:

• Alcohol addiction treatment as a way to battle DUI offenses. In this piece, consider how dealing with alcoholism and improving healthcare can help reduce traffic incidents.
• Parents and their role in preventing teenage intoxicated driving. This paper can clarify why a good home environment and parental guidance are one way to deal with DUI incidents.
• The relationship between alcohol access and drunk driving rates. Your essay can scrutinize whether the availability of alcohol affects how frequently people tend to get behind the wheel intoxicated.
• The role of law enforcement in drunk driving deterrence. This project can review measures such as sobriety checkpoints, license suspension, and saturation patrols to deal with alcohol-impaired accidents.
• Gasoline Prices Ideas
• Uber Topics
• Drug Titles
• Vehicles Essay Topics
• Criminal Behavior Essay Topics
• First Aid Research Topics
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• Social Security Paper Topics
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IvyPanda. (2024, November 24). 99 Drunk Driving Argumentative Essay Topics & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/drunk-driving-essay-topics/

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "99 Drunk Driving Argumentative Essay Topics & Examples." November 24, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/drunk-driving-essay-topics/.

• Open access
• Published: 12 March 2015

Driving under the influence of alcohol: frequency, reasons, perceived risk and punishment

• Francisco Alonso 1 ,
• Juan C Pastor 1 ,
• Luis Montoro 2 &
• Cristina Esteban 1  

Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy volume  10 , Article number:  11 ( 2015 ) Cite this article

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The aim of this study was to gain information useful to improve traffic safety, concerning the following aspects for DUI (Driving Under the Influence): frequency, reasons, perceived risk, drivers' knowledge of the related penalties, perceived likelihood of being punished, drivers’ perception of the harshness of punitive measures and drivers’ perception of the probability of behavioral change after punishment for DUI.

A sample of 1100 Spanish drivers, 678 men and 422 women aged from 14 to 65 years old, took part in a telephone survey using a questionnaire to gather sociodemographic and psychosocial information about drivers, as well as information on enforcement, clustered in five related categories: “Knowledge and perception of traffic norms”; “Opinions on sanctions”; “Opinions on policing”; “Opinions on laws” (in general and on traffic); and “Assessment of the effectiveness of various punitive measures”.

Results showed around 60% of respondents believe that driving under the influence of alcohol is maximum risk behavior. Nevertheless, 90.2% of the sample said they never or almost never drove under the influence of alcohol. In this case, the main reasons were to avoid accidents (28.3%) as opposed to avoiding sanctions (10.4%). On the contrary, the remaining 9.7% acknowledged they had driven after consuming alcohol. It is noted that the main reasons for doing so were “not having another way to return home” (24.5%) and alcohol consumption being associated with meals (17.3%).

Another important finding is that the risk perception of traffic accident as a result of DUI is influenced by variables such as sex and age. With regard to the type of sanctions, 90% think that DUI is punishable by a fine, 96.4% that it may result in temporary or permanent suspension of driving license, and 70% that it can be punished with imprisonment.

Conclusions

Knowing how alcohol consumption impairs safe driving and skills, being aware of the associated risks, knowing the traffic regulations concerning DUI, and penalizing it strongly are not enough. Additional efforts are needed to better manage a problem with such important social and practical consequences.

In Europe, traffic accidents are one of the main causes of mortality in people between 15 and 29 years old, and driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) is a major risk factor in most crashes [ 1 , 2 ].

In the year 2001 in Spain, 40,174 people were treated in public hospitals for traffic injuries. Some 28% of these injuries were serious or very serious and drinking was involved in a high percentage of cases. According to the Spanish Directorate General of Traffic (DGT), alcohol is involved in 30-50% of fatal accidents and in 15 to 35% of crashes causing serious injury, constituting a major risk factor in traffic accidents. This problem is especially important among young people and worsens on weekend nights [ 3 , 4 ].

In more recent years, several studies have shown that more than a third of adults and half of teenagers admit they have driven drunk. We also know that most of them were not detected. Generally, the rate of arrests for driving under the influence is very low and even those drivers who were arrested were mostly “first-time” offenders [ 5 ].

Some studies show that many young people lack information or knowledge about the legislation regulating consumption of alcohol for drivers, as well as the effects of this drug on the user [ 6 - 8 ].

There are also some widespread beliefs and misconceptions regarding the actions the driver can take in order to neutralize the effects of alcohol before driving (for instance drinking coffee, having a cold shower or breathing fresh air). As suggested by Becker’s model of health beliefs [ 9 , 10 ], preventive behavior is unlikely to occur unless the subject considers the action necessary, hence the importance of providing adequate information and disproving false beliefs.

Drivers are not usually aware of the risk they assume when they drive under the influence of alcohol, as they do not suffer a traffic accident every time they drink and drive. Hence they tend to think there is no danger in driving under the influence of alcohol, incurring the same risk behavior once and again.

But the reality is quite different. Alcohol causes very obvious alterations in behavior, as it affects almost all the physical skills we need for safe driving. It can interfere with attention, perceptual functioning and motor skills, as well as in decision making while driving.

Drinking impairs the ability to drive and increases the risk of causing an accident. The effects of alcohol consumption on driving-related functions are modulated by some factors, such as form of consumption (regular or infrequent), expectations about their consumption, expertise in driving and driver’s age. The increased risk of accident starts at a lower blood alcohol level when drivers are inexperienced or they are occasional drinkers, and begins at a higher blood alcohol level when these are more experienced drivers or regular drinkers [ 11 , 12 ].

The BAC represents the volume of alcohol in the blood and is measured in grams of alcohol per liter of blood (g / l) or its equivalent in exhaled air.

Any amount of alcohol in blood, however small, can impair driving, increasing the risk of accident. Therefore, the trend internationally is to lower the maximum rates allowed.

After drinking, the rate of alcohol in blood that a driver is showing can vary widely due to numerous modulating variables. Among them, some important factors are the speed of drinking, the type of alcohol (fermented drinks such as beer or wine, or distilled beverages like rum or whisky) or the fact of having previously ingested some food, as well as the age, sex or body weight. Ideally, if everyone drank alcohol responsibly and never drove after drinking many deaths would be avoided. Accurate information about how driving under the influence effects traffic safety would be a positive step towards this goal.

Study framework

Research on enforcement of traffic safety norms has a long tradition. In 1979, a classic work [ 13 ] showed that increasing enforcement and toughening sanctions can reduce accidents as an initial effect, although the number of accidents tends to normalize later.

Justice in traffic is needed insofar as many innocent people die on the roads unjustly. This is our starting point and our central principle. In order to prevent traffic accidents, a better understanding is needed of the driver’s knowledge, perceptions and actions concerning traffic regulations. Drivers have to be aware of how important rules are for safety. The present study comes from a broader body of research on traffic enforcement, designed to develop a more efficient sanctions system [ 5 , 14 ].

Our research used a questionnaire to gain sociodemographic and psychosocial information about drivers, as well as additional information on enforcement clustered in five related categories: “Knowledge and perception of traffic norms”; “Opinions on sanctions”; “Opinions on policing”; “Opinions on laws” (general ones and traffic laws in particular); and “Assessment of the effectiveness of various punitive measures”.

A number of additional factors were also explored, including: driving too fast or at an improper speed for the traffic conditions, not keeping a safe distance while driving, screaming or verbal abuse while driving, driving under the influence, smoking while driving, driving without a seat belt and driving without insurance. For a more complete review, see the original study [ 14 ].

The aim of this study was to gain useful information to improve traffic safety, concerning the following aspects:

Frequency of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI).

Reasons for either driving or not driving under the influence (DUI).

Perceived risk of DUI.

Drivers’ knowledge of DUI-related penalties.

The perceived likelihood of being punished for DUI.

Drivers’ perception of the harshness of punitive measures for DUI.

Drivers’ knowledge of the penalties for DUI.

Drivers’ perception concerning the probability of behavior change after punishment for DUI.

Sociodemographic and psychosocial factors related with alcohol consumption and driving.

Participants

The sample consisted of 1100 Spanish drivers: 678 men (61.64%) and 422 women (38.36%), between 14 and 65 years of age. The initial sample size was proportional by quota to segments of Spanish population by gender and age. The number of participants represents a margin of error for the general data of ± 3 with a confidence interval of 95% in the worst case of p = q = 50%; with a significance level of 0.05.

Drivers completed a telephone survey. 1100 drivers answered interviews, and the response rate was 98.5%; as it was a survey on social issues, most people consented to collaborate.

Procedure and design

The survey was conducted by telephone. A telephone sample using random digit dialing was selected. Every phone call was screened to determine the number of drivers (aged 14 or older) in the household. The selection criteria were possession of any type of driving license for vehicles other than motorcycles and driving frequently. Interviewers systematically selected one valid driver per home. The survey was carried out using computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) in order to reduce interview length and minimize recording errors, ensuring the anonymity of the participants at all times and emphasizing the fact that the data would be used only for statistical and research purposes. The importance of answering all the questions truthfully was also stressed.

In this article, we present the data on driving under the influence of alcohol. The first question raised was: How often do you currently drive after drinking any alcoholic beverage? Possible responses were: Almost always, Often, Sometimes, Rarely or Never.

If they answered either Almost always, Often or Sometimes, they were asked: What is the reason that leads you to drive under the influence? If they answered Rarely or Never, they were asked: What is the reason you rarely or never drive under the influence? In both cases, respondents had the option of an open answer.

Later they were asked to rate from 0 to 10 the risk that driving under the influence of alcohol can cause a traffic accident in their opinion (0 being the minimum risk and 10 the maximum risk of crash).

Then they were asked to rate from 0 to 10 the harshness with which they thought DUI sanctions should be administered.

They were also asked: Is driving exceeding alcohol limits punishable? In this case, participants had the chance of answering Yes or No . We would then compare the correct answers with the standard to determine the knowledge.

Drivers who were unaware that DUI is punishable were asked about the probability of being sanctioned for this reason using the following question: When driving exceeding the limits of alcohol, out of 10 times, how many times is it usually sanctioned?

Another question dealt with the type of penalties. The participants were asked if the penalties for DUI consisted of economic fines, imprisonment or license suspension, either temporary or permanent. The question raised was: Have you ever received any penalty for driving under the influence? Possible answers were Yes or No . Those drivers who answered affirmatively were then asked about the harshness of punishment: How do you consider the punishment for DUI? The response options were Hard enough, Insufficient or Excessive. Furthermore, they were asked whether or not they changed their behavior after the punishment.

The questionnaire was used to ascribe drivers to different groups according to demographic and psychosocial characteristics, as well as to identify driving habits and risk factors.

Demographic variables

Gender: male or female.

Age: 14-17, 18-24, 25-29, 30-44, 45-65 and over 65 years old.

Educational level.

Type of driver: professional or non-professional.

Employment status: currently employed, retired, unemployed, unemployed looking for the first job, homemaker or student.

Driving habits

Frequency: the frequency with which the participant drive, the possible choices being Every day, Nearly every day, Just weekends, A few days a week, or A few days per month.

Mileage: the total distance in number of kilometers driven or travelled weekly, monthly or annually.

Route: type of road used regularly, including street, road, highway or motorway, and tollway.

Car use: motives for car use, for instance, to work, to go to work and return home from work or study centre, personal, family, recreational, leisure and others.

Experience/risk

Experience: number of years the participant has held a driver license, grouping them as 2 years or less, 3-6, 7-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25, 26-30 and over 30 years.

Traffic offenses. Number of sanctions in the past three years (none, one, two, three or more).

Accidents. Number of accidents as driver throughout life (none, one or more than one), and their consequences (casualties or deaths, or minor damages).

Once data were collected, a number of statistical analyses were performed, using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), in order to obtain relevant information according to the aims of the study.

74.7% of the sample said that they had never driven under the influence. 15.5% of drivers said they did it almost never, and only the remaining 9.7% (sometimes 9,1%, often 0,2% or always 0,5%) acknowledged that they had driven after consuming alcohol (Figure  1 ).

Frequency of DUI.

Regarding the main reasons that led the drivers to act this way, expressed among drivers who admitted to having driven under the influence of alcoholic beverages, 24.5% of them indicated that it was unavoidable, as “I had to go home and couldn’t do anything else”, while 17.3% claimed that the act of drink-driving was an unintentional consequence or “something associated with meals”, and only 16.4% admitted having done it “intentionally”. In addition, 12.7% considered that “alcohol doesn’t impair driving” anyway (Figure  2 ).

Reasons for DUI.

“In any case, 60% of the interviewees perceived driving under the influence of alcohol as the highest risk factor for traffic accidents.”

Among them, the perception of this risk (or dangerousness of driving under the influence) is greater in women [F (1, 1081) = 41.777 p <0.05], adults aged between 18 and 44 [F (5, 1075) = 4.140 p <0.05], drivers who have never been fined for this infraction [F (2, 1080) = 29.650 p <0.05], drivers who had never committed the offense [F (4, 1077) = 40.489 p <0.05], and drivers who have never been involved in an accident [F (1, 1081) = 12.296 p <0.05]. Table  1 shows the values for this perception by gender and age.

There appears to be no significant relationship between the perceived risk attributed to DUI and other variables such as educational level, type of driver, driving frequency, vehicle use and years of experience.

The main reasons put forward for not drinking and driving included not drinking in any circumstances (50,5%), to avoid accidents (28,3%) as opposed to avoiding sanctions (10,4%) - such as financial penalties (8,4%), withdrawal of driving license (1,8%) or jail (0,2%) - or other reasons related to attitudes to road safety (16,6%).

On a scale of 0-10, participants rated the risk of economic penalties when driving under the influence of the alcohol with an average of 5.2, in other words they estimate the probability of being fined as roughly half of the times one drives drunk.

The perception of this risk (penalty or financial punishment for driving under the influence) is also greater in women [F (1, 1095) = 30,966 p <0.05], drivers who have never been involved in an accident [F (1, 1095) = 8.479 p <0.05], and drivers who had never been fined for this infraction [F (2 1094) = 12.515 p <0.05].

There appears to be no significant relationship between the perceived risk of financial penalty and other variables such as educational level, employment, type of driver, driving frequency, vehicle use and years of experience.

Almost everyone (99.1%) thinks that DUI is punishable and only 0.9% of drivers think it is not.

On a scale of 0-10, participants assigned an average of 9.1 to the need to punish this traffic breach severely. The score is higher in women [F (1, 1086) = 29.474 p <0.05], adults aged 18 to 24 years [F (5, 1089) = 2.699 p <0.05], drivers who have never been involved in an accident [F (1, 1095) = 8.479 p <0.05], and people who had never been fined for this reason [F (2, 1085) = 26,745 p <0.05], which means that these groups are less tolerant of this kind of behavior. By age, college students are the least tolerant and retirees are the most tolerant.

There was no significant relationship between the perceived need to punish this behavior harshly and variables such as type of driver, driving frequency and vehicle use.

Regarding the type of sanctions, 89.5% of drivers think that driving under the influence is subject to an economic fine, almost 70% say it could even be punished by imprisonment, while 96.4% believe it can lead to a temporary or permanent suspension of the license (Figure  3 ).

Type of sanction the driver think DUI is subject to.

Among the drivers who had been fined for DUI, nearly 75% considered that the imposed punishment was adequate, while the remaining 25% saw it as excessive (Figure  4 ). Finally, 91.7% of this group found they had changed their behavior after punishment (Figure  5 ).

Perception of punishment harshness imposed for DUI.

Perception concerning behavior change after punishment for DUI.

Alcohol is a major risk factor in traffic accidents. From the objective standpoint, alcohol interferes with the skills needed to drive safely, as evidenced by numerous studies on driving under the influence of alcohol conducted to date. From the subjective point of view, drivers also perceive it as dangerous, as our study shows.

Around 60% of respondents believe that driving under the influence of alcohol is maximum risk behavior. A smaller percentage compared to those reported by other studies in which the percentage of people that saw drink-driving as a major threat to safety reached 81% [ 15 ].

First, we note a clear correlation between perceived risk and avoidance behavior. In general the higher the perceived risk, the lower the probability of committing the offense, and vice versa: the lower the perceived risk, the greater the likelihood of driving after consuming alcohol.

Thus, drivers who do not commit this offense perceive that the risk of accidents associated with DUI is very high. When it comes to drivers who commit the offense occasionally, the perceived risk is lower, and when it comes to drivers who often drive under the influence of the alcohol, the perception of risk is clearly inferior. Thus, the frequency of DUI and risk perception seem to be inversely related.

These results are related to the hypothesis of optimistic bias, which states that drinkers are overly optimistic about probabilities of adverse consequences from drink. In a study [ 16 ] about overconfidence about consequences of high levels of alcohol consumption, the authors established an alternative to the optimism bias hypothesis that could explain our findings, affirming that persons who drink frequently and consume large amounts of alcohol daily could be more familiar with the risks of such behaviors.

Another important finding is that the risk perception of traffic accident as a result of DUI is influenced by variables such as sex and age. In relation to gender, the perception of risk seems to be higher in women than in men. In relation to age, risk perception is higher in adults between 18 and 44 years old.

The finding about the reason for not drinking and driving supports the already evident need for an integrative approach to developing sustainable interventions, combining a range of measures that can be implemented together. In this way, sustainable measures against alcohol and impaired driving should continue to include a mix of approaches, such as legislation, enforcement, risk reduction and education, but focus efforts more closely on strategies aimed at raising awareness and changing behavior and cultural views on alcohol and impaired driving.

Almost all the drivers surveyed are well aware that driving after drinking any alcoholic beverage is a criminal offense. They also consider that this is a type of infraction that should be punished harshly. In this respect, they assign nine points on a scale of ten possible.

Finally, with regard to the type of sanctions, 90% of drivers think that driving drunk is punishable by a fine. 96.4% consider that it may result in temporary or permanent suspension of driving license, and 70% believe that it can be punished with imprisonment.

In any case, there are several limitations of this study. This was a population-based study of Spanish drivers; there is possibly a lack of generalizability of this population to other settings.

Another possible limitation of this study is the use of self-report questionnaires to derive information rather than using structured interviews. Similarly, self-reported instruments may be less accurate than objective measures of adherence as a result of social desirability bias.

In Spain, various traffic accident prevention programs have been implemented in recent years. Some of them were alcohol-focused, designed to prevent driving under the influence and to inform the Spanish population about the dangers associated with this kind of risk behavior.

As a result, many Spanish drivers seem to be sensitized to the risk of driving drunk. As revealed in our survey, many Spanish drivers never drive under the influence of alcohol, and many of them identify DUI as maximum risk behavior. This shows that a high percentage of the Spanish population know and avoid the risks of DUI.

In any case, the reality is far from ideal, and one out of four drivers has committed this offense at least once. When asked why they did it, the two major risk factors of DUI we identified were the lack of an alternative means of transport and the influence of meals on alcohol consumption. Both situations, especially the latter, occur frequently, almost daily, while it is true that the amount of alcohol consumed in the former is considerably higher and therefore more dangerous.

In addition, most drivers are aware of the dangers of driving under the influence, and they tend to avoid the risk of accident or penalty for this reason. Some drivers never drive under the influence, to avoid a possible accident. To a lesser extent, some do not drive under the influence to avoid a possible fine. They usually think that the possibility of sanction in the event of DUI is so high that they will be fined every two times they risk driving drunk.

Moreover, drivers know the legislation regulating DUI and they believe that the current penalty for DUI is strong enough. Nevertheless, even though almost all the drivers that were fined for this reason say they changed their behavior after the event, nine out of ten drivers would penalize this kind of offense even more strongly.

Knowing how alcohol consumption impairs safety and driving skills, being aware of the associated risks, knowing the traffic regulations concerning DUI and penalizing it strongly are not enough. Many drivers habitually drive after consuming alcohol and this type of traffic infraction is still far from being definitively eradicated.

Additional efforts are needed for better management of a problem with such important social and practical consequences. Efforts should be focused on measures which are complementary to legislation and enforcement, increasing their effectiveness, such as education, awareness and community mobilization; Alcolock™; accessibility to alcohol or brief interventions.

Abbreviations

• Driving under the influence

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Audi Corporate Social Responsibility program, Attitudes, for sponsoring the basic research. Also thanks to Mayte Duce for the revisions.

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Francisco Alonso, Juan C Pastor & Cristina Esteban

FACTHUM.lab (Human Factor and Road Safety), INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Serpis 29, 46022, Valencia, Spain

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All authors contributed to the design of the study and also wrote and approved the final manuscript. FA drew up the design of the study with the help of CE; the rest of the authors also contributed. JCP and LM were in charge of the data revision. JCP and CE also drafted the manuscript. FA performed the statistical analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Alonso, F., Pastor, J.C., Montoro, L. et al. Driving under the influence of alcohol: frequency, reasons, perceived risk and punishment. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy 10 , 11 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-015-0007-4

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Received : 07 November 2014

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Published : 12 March 2015

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13011-015-0007-4

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