A Study of Drink Driving and Recidivism in the State of Victia Australia, during the Fiscal Years 1992/93-1995/96 (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. 3056 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 1995. 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. - 815 -
T he review extended over a period o f 4 years com m encing from 1.7.92 until 30.6.96. 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 0.150 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 0.150 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. -8 1 6 -
Table 1 No 1 2 3 4 5 6 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% 646 486 160 50 18 8 1.100% -.149% 822 614 208 69 20 9 5 3.150% -.199% 790 541 249 90 43 20 8 5.200% plus 588 341 247 96 36 19 12 9 T otal Subjects 2846 1982 864 305 117 56 26 17 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. -8 1 7 -
Table 2 N o 1 2 3 4 5 6 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 2340 1540 800 286 113 54 25 16 % 82.2% 77.7% 92.6% 93.7% 96.6% 96.4% 96.1% 94.1% Fem ale 506 442 64 19 4 2 1 1 % 17.8% 22.3% 7.4% 6.22% 3.4% 3.5% 3.8% 5.8% T otal 2846 1982 864 305 117 56 26 17 % 69.64 30.3% 10.71% 4.11% 1.96% 0.91%.059% % O f the first offenders, 77.7% w ere m ale as opposed to 2 2.3 % 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 20-24 years. T hey reduced significantly in the 25-29 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 20-24 year age group, increase still further in the 25-29 years group and reach their peak during the 30-39 year period. In the 40 year plus period they drop o ff significantly and progressively continue that reduction. - 818 -
Table 3 A ge G roup Subjects No 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pris Pris P ris Pris Pris Pris P ris m e m e m e m e m e m e 11-14 years 1-1 1 - - - - 15-1 9 years 304 277 27 3 2 1 - - 20-24 years 888 709 179 41 8 4 1-25 - 29 years 552 347 205 79 34 17 7 4 30-39 years 606 348 258 102 35 14 7 5 40-49 years 299 169 130 54 26 13 8 6 50-59 years 120 74 46 18 8 6 3 2 60 years plus 67 50 17 7 4 1 - - A ge - N /R ec 9 8 1 - - - - - T otal 2846 1982 864 305 117 56 26 17 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 - 864 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% 191 25.67%.100% -.149% 319 42.88%.150% + above 234 31.45% -8 1 9 -
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 20-39 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 0.150 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. - 8 2 0 -