Happy New Year, everyone. A few months ago, I blogged about the continuing phenomenon of impaired driving, the fatalities resulting from crashes involving impaired drivers, and recommendations from experts about how to reduce the incidence of impaired driving. Some of the feedback I received indicated that talk of solutions ought to be preceded by common agreement on the nature of the problem. Today’s post sets forth three impaired-driving-related principles borne out by research. Agreement about these basic precepts can support a more robust and productive policy-oriented debate about strategies to reduce impaired driving. Impaired driving is dangerous, and the risk of crash increases at higher levels of alcohol concentration. Danger. A 2018 Consensus Study Report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine listed the following as among the effects of alcohol: psychomotor impairment decreased inhibition diminished alertness and sleepiness confusion and problems with concentration; and reduced visual focus. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Getting to Zero Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities: A Comprehensive Approach to a Persistent Problem 10 (2018) [hereinafter National Academies]. The report noted that “[d]riving requires several complex skills, and alcohol affects the capacity to drive safely by impairing information processing and reaction time and compromising judgment and coordination.” Id. Crash risk. Researchers have estimated the relative crash risk based on a driver’s blood alcohol concentration. One widely cited study of drivers in Long Beach, California and Fort Lauderdale, Florida determined that a driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 has nearly three times [...]
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