Finding Solutions to Drink-Driving: The Lessons of Research*
| DOI | 10.1177/000486588201500306 |
| Date | 01 September 1982 |
| Published date | 01 September 1982 |
| Author | Les P Wozniczka,Sydney Engelberg,Peter V Mangioni |
170 (1982) 15 ANZJ
Crim
FINDING
SOLUTIONS TO DRINK-DRIVING:
THE
LESSONS
OF
RESEARCH*
Sydney Engelbergt,
Peter
V
Mangionitt
and Les P
Wozniczkattt
Introduction
and
Basic
Theory
Administrators, professionals and community workers,
both
internationally
and
locally, have
been
concerned with
the
increasing problem of alcohol-impaired drivers
being
over-represented
in motor vehicle accidents. This
problem
of drink driving
seems constantly with us. As with any
other
intransigent problem, its solution
seems
all
but
unattainable. Nonetheless, public concern and/or political
interest
result in
intermittent,
highly emotive publicity and attention focussing on
the
question.
We
are witnessing such a periodin
New
South Wales at present.
One
manifestation of this
is
that
the
New
South Wales
Drug
and Alcohol Authority has
been
asked to
submit
a
report
on possible changes in
the
legislation to
the
State
Government
(NSW
Drug
and Alcohol Authority, 1979). This is indicative of
the
kind of search for solutions all
too familiar in this area. It may be
termed
"the
magic
cure"
approach. Simply
put,
it means
that
single-factor interventions are sought for,
and
believed to be long-term
solutions to, complex, multi-factor problems. It involves anaive view of possible,
effective drink-driving counter-measures.
This kind of thinking is not restricted to non-professionals. A
recent
example of this
magic
cure
approach on a professional level is exemplified by Anderson (1978). In an
article which ostensibly reviews acomprehensive range of
attempts
to control
the
drinking driver, available evidence is utilized selectively to
support
asingle-factor
approach to intervention,
rather
than
being examined in its
entirety
and
drawing
appropriate,
and
necessarily complex, conclusions. Thus, it is concluded
that
legal
sanctions
are
of little value in controlling drink-driving; without differentiating
between
types of legal sanction,
and
without mention of
the
work of
Homel
(1977,
1978) indicating that
the
Australian situation may well be different to
that
found
overseas. Having dismissed legal sanctions as the approach to control,
the
argument
is
then
developed
that rehabilitative approaches offer a
better
solution. In
support
of
this view early studies of
the
American Alcohol Safety Action Projects (ASAP),
Phoenix, Arizona, programme
and
a
number
of
other
rehabilitation programmes,
are
cited.
Perhaps
the
best
comment
on this evidence comes from
these
self-same
sources:
"It
is clear from
the
above results that, on
the
whole, ASAP education
and
treatment
programs were having at
best
a small specific
deterrent
effect and, at worst,
aslightly negative effect." (Nichols, Weinstein, Ellingstad
and
Struckman-Johnson
*An
earlier
version of this
paper
appeared
in AJADD, Vol 6, No 4, 1979.
t
PhD,
Lecturer
in Psychology, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW.
tt
BSc (Psych Hons), Concord Repatriation Hospital, Concord, NSW.
ttt
BSc (Psych Hons), AGSM, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW.
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