Drink-driving convictions and the effect of lowering the BAC levels

Driving while impaired (DWI) is a factor behind one in four fatal automobile crashes and one in six motoring casualties each year in Denmark. Drink driving is especially a problem for young men. The most important legal initiative has been lowering the blood-alcohol content (BAC) limit from 0.8‰ to 0.5‰ in 1998. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate if this initiative have had the intended effects on reducing young peoples’ drink-driving convictions. Two nationwide birth-cohorts of young men are followed before and after lowering the BAC level. Using complete birth cohorts of men born in 1973 (N=36,540) and 1980 (N=29,944) the incidence of first-time drink-driving convictions was assessed using seven years’ experience before and seven years after the changed legislation while the young men were aged 17 to 24 years old. The preliminary results showed that young people (17-24 years old) are estimated to have 27 percent increased risk of DWI-conviction during 1997 to 2004 compared to young people in the same age group in the period 1990-1997.