Debating Tactics to Fight Drunk Driving

When a motorist is shot by a car jacker, it evokes public outrage. But that fury seems to be missing when it comes to drunk drivers, even though they account for a far greater toll: An estimated 25,000 people are killed each year in accidents related to drunk driving.

A recent study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that such accidents account for $46 billion of the $137-billion annual cost of all auto crashes. The estimates are based on the medical costs, property damage and lost lifetime productivity.

Stricter state laws that impose jail sentences and suspend driver’s licenses for drunk-driving violations have helped curb the problem in some states. But there has been little progress nationwide in cutting the death toll over the last five years, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

As a result, the federal government has instituted a massive program to help bring the numbers down. In California this year, the federal government will spend $11 million to educate and prod motorists to not drink and drive. But experts disagree over whether such programs are effective.

Peter O’Rourke, director of California’s office of traffic safety, administers the federal grants and says taxpayers are “getting a heck of a return” for the money spent on alcohol education.

Some of the money is used to sponsor alcohol-free dances for kids, to put anti-alcohol messages in florists’ arrangements and to sponsor parties to lobby against drunk driving. Much of the effort is targeted to Latino drivers, O’Rourke says.

Latinos account for 39% of arrests but represent 26% of the population, based on statewide arrest records compiled by the Department of Motor Vehicles and census data. Blacks account for 5.1% of arrests and 7% of the population. Anglos account for 52.3% of arrests and 57% of the population. Asians and other groups account for 3.5% of arrests and 10% of the population.

In California, a great deal of money goes to producing brochures in Spanish, Asian and Middle Eastern languages, O’Rourke says.

Almost all the federal money is allotted to local agencies, mainly to police enforcement efforts that include sobriety checkpoints. About 400 California police agencies have purchased the checkpoint trailers under the federally funded program.

Also among the grants was $477,500 to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for a program that includes “producing a new culture awareness program” and producing a “management information data base.”

Not everybody agrees with this approach to public spending. Brian O’Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a trade group, says enforcement activities--not social activities--are the most effective use of government funds.

“Absent that federal funding, there is often little or no enforcement against drunk driving,” O’Neill says. “Sobriety checkpoints are very important to cutting drunk-driving fatalities.”

O’Neill says that because there has been little progress in reducing the number of drunk-driving nationwide deaths since 1987, he believes that the money spent on non-enforcement activities may be largely ineffective.

Arlene Joye, president of the Los Angeles chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, says educational programs are important, although she acknowledges that it is difficult to measure their effectiveness. Joye says educational programs keep the issue on a jaded public’s mind.

“On the surface, it may not seem effective, but all the efforts are effective on different levels,” she says. “With young kids, you can’t beat them on the head with statistics. You have to raise their awareness in ways that reach them.”

Ray Biancal, deputy director of the office of traffic safety, defends the education approach. He notes that California had 1,837 alcohol-related fatalities in 1991, down from 2,425 in 1987. A large portion of that improvement can be attributed to stricter laws and lowering the legal definition of driving drunk to .8% blood alcohol content. Whether the downtrend will continue will depend on the success of the traffic safety’s programs.