A Study of Drink Driving and Recidivism in the State of Victoria Australia, during the Fiscal Years 1992/ /96 (Inclusive)

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1 A Study of Drink Driving and Recidivism in the State of Victia Australia, during the Fiscal Years 1992/ /96 (Inclusive) M ichael M o l o n e y, D iane P a l a ia V ictia Police Fce, T raffic A lcohol Section, Police T raffic C entre, 20 D aw son Street, B runsw ick, V ictia, A ustralia IN T R O D U C T IO N In recent years V ictia has been highly effective in reducing overall levels o f alcohol affected driving. T he effect o f that reduction has been reflected in a significant drop in D river/r ider death over.05% from 113 in 1989 to just 50 in W hilst w e have enjoyed that success, w e continue to w itness instances o f drivers w ith exceptionally high B lood A lcohol L evels (BAL) together w ith repeated convictions f D rink D riving being culpably responsible f the m e serious o f fatal collisions. In der to m easure the involvem ent o f the repeat offender w ith a view to developing a repeat offender profile, it w as decided to review the situation over an extended period o f tim e. M E T H O D O L O G Y In V ictia, w hen drivers o f m ot vehicles are injured as a result o f a collision and conveyed to H ospital f treatm ent, a blood sam ple is com pulsily obtained from that driver and analysed f the presence o f alcohol. E xperience indicates this system o f com pulsy blood alcohol collection appears to identify the m ost serious o f drinking drivers. It w as decided to review the blood sam ples o f all those injured drivers found to have an illegal B A L w ith a view to identifying the rate and profile o f repeat offenders

2 T he review extended over a period o f 4 years com m encing from until A total o f 2,846 positive driver sam ples w ere identified. T he background o f each positive driver w as checked against a drink driving histy o f 10 years m e. The drink driving histy included the follow ing charges:- exceeding the prescribed concentration o f alcohol-be it zero 0.05 per centum driving under the influence o f alcohol refuse prelim inary breath test refuse/fail to stop at a Prelim inary Breath Testing Station refuse breath blood test It w as decided to review four issues relative to each offending driver. T hey w ere:- (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) their respective blood alcohol levels their gender their age the iginal BAL of repeat offenders. W e then com pared first offen d ers against repeat offenders f each o f the first three issues. The fourth issue looked at the effectiveness in selection of a program in V ictia which requires drivers under 25 years o f age, convicted o f a charge of drink driving w ith a BA L o f per centum above, to attend a driver education program as a m andaty condition befe being re-licensed. T he ratio n ale behind the program w as that drivers w ith a B A L o f per centum above w ere m e likely to becom e a repeat o ffender and intervention was required to offset this. A L C O H O L R E C ID IV ISM - B L O O D A L C O H O L L E V E L S The follow ing tables indicate repeat offenders progressively increase their B A L s as they continue to offend

3 Table 1 No D rivers Pris P ri Pris Pris Pris P ris Pris m e m e m e m e m e m e.05% -.099% % -.149% % -.199% % plus T otal Subjects T able 1 a provides a sum m ary o f the data in table 1. T able 1 a BA L 1st O ffenders 1 Pri 2 Pris m e m e <.150% 55.5% 42.5% 39.01% >.150% 44.5% 57.4% 60.99% A L C O H O L R E C ID IV IS M - G E N D E R D IST R IB U T IO N It is o f note that 30.3% 1 in every 3.3 o f all offenders had offended on e m e tim es previously. 1 in every 9.33 offended 2 m e tim es previously. T hese proptions rem ained relatively constant throughout all 4 years o f the study. F every on e fem ale offender there w ere 5.62 m ales. T his proption also rem ained relatively constant throughout the course o f the study

4 Table 2 N o G e n d e r T otal Pris Pri Pris Pris Pris Pris Pris m e m e m e m e m e m e M ale % 82.2% 77.7% 92.6% 93.7% 96.6% 96.4% 96.1% 94.1% Fem ale % 17.8% 22.3% 7.4% 6.22% 3.4% 3.5% 3.8% 5.8% T otal % % 10.71% 4.11% 1.96% 0.91%.059% % O f the first offenders, 77.7% w ere m ale as opposed to % fem ale, w hereas the percentage o f m ales increased to 92.6% f offenders w ith one pri con viction m e com pared w ith fem ales w ho drop dram atically to 7.4 %. M ales obviou sly dom in ate recidivism, w hereas fem ales having been caught, d o N O T generally re-offend. A L C O H O L R E C ID IV ISM - A G E G R O U P IN G S First offenders:- By far the greatest num ber o f first offenders w ere aged betw een years. T hey reduced significantly in the year period and rem ain at that level until 39 years w hen they reduce still further and progressively continue that reduction. R epeat offenders:- They appear significantly in the year age group, increase still further in the years group and reach their peak during the year period. In the 40 year plus period they drop o ff significantly and progressively continue that reduction

5 Table 3 A ge G roup Subjects No Pris Pris P ris Pris Pris Pris P ris m e m e m e m e m e m e years years years years years years years years plus A ge - N /R ec T otal A L C O H O L R E C ID IV ISM - B A L A T 1ST O FFEN C E O f the 2846 drivers blood results review ed o f those drivers had at least one pri D rink D riving conviction. O f the 864 repeat offender files review ed - only 744 provided the igin al BAL reading. O f the 744 drivers identified:- Table 4 B A L T O T A L %.00% -.099% %.100% -.149% %.150% + above %

6 N ote: T he above percentages rem ained relatively constant through each o f the four years o f the study. R eview - T able 4 O f the 744 case files review ed, 31.45% o f all first offenders w ere found to have an iginal B A L of in excess of 0.150% per centum which required them to undergo driver reeducation. T he rem aining 68.55% did not receive any re-education until they w ere intercepted on a second occasion. N ote:- T he review on table 1 indicates that first offenders recded an offending percentage o f 55% u n d er 0.150% per centum w hilst table 4 show ed 68.55%. It m ust be bne in m ind that table 4 related to repeat offenders only w hilst table 1 included a significant num ber o f first offenders over 0.150% w hich caused the variation in percentages. T his later observation indicates that w hilst a first offender m ight exceed.150%, it does not necessarily m ean they will progress to becom e a repeat offender. C O N C L U SIO N It is quite apparent that the bulk o f recidivist drink d rivin g o ffen d ers in V ictia are m ale, aged betw een years, w ho continue to increase their B lood A lcohol L evels as they continue to offend. It w ould also appear that using per centum B A L as a d iscrim inat on first o ffen d in g drink d riving to predict the likelihood to repeat offend does not appear to be effective. G iven that it is intended to re-educate those potential repeat offenders befe they becom e so, it w ould appear necessary to re-educate all m ale first offenders, particularly those u nder 25 years of age. Finally, it w ould appear that w om en, having been intercepted once, statistically speaking, rarely offend again in a like m anner