Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Alcohol Drunk driving'

This study investigates the relationships between planning strategies on how to avoid future DWI arrest and actual DWI recidivism for a group of problem and non-problem drinkers. A sample of 75 individuals who were arrested for DWI and completed a DWI training program in 1987 was gathered.

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) lead to high risk behaviors in adults. In 2015, an estimated 700,000 children reported abuse; 8.4% reported experiencing sexual abuse. In 2014, nearly 10,000 people died from alcohol-related motor vehicle injuries, and >1.1 million were arrested for driving under alcohol or narcotic influence. Studies have reported the role of ACEs in alcohol consumption among adults. However, the association between adult drunk driving (DD) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has not been investigated. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the association between CSA and DD in US adults. Methods: Data were obtained from 4,374,390 adults who participated in the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Participants’ self-reported responses were used to define past experience for DD (no/yes) and CSA (no/yes). Covariates included age, sex, race, income, education, marital status and parental substance abuse. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the relative odds of DD among victims of CSA adjusting for covariates. Results: Approximately 3.6% of adults reported DD, and 11.1% adults experienced CSA. Compared to adults who didn’t experience CSA, those who experienced CSA were significantly associated with increased odds of DD behavior (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR): 1.67, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.27-2.20). Compared to females, males who experienced child sexual abuse were 2.88 times more likely to DD (aOR: 2.88, 95% CI: 2.32-3.59). Conclusion: CSA is significantly associated with DD behavior in adults. Higher estimates of the relationship were identified in males. Future studies, such as prospective cohort studies, are imperative for further evaluation. These findings aided in identifying adults with CSA experience to target and minimize their DD behavior, thus preventing alcohol-related injuries. Public Health Implications: Adults who experienced CSA were associated with increased odds of DD behavior. A multifaceted approach involving several stakeholders at all levels of governance is needed to address this issue. Appropriate public health interventions and/or policies should be developed to prevent sexual abuses during childhood. Health education and promotional campaigns are vital to minimize drunk driving cases by targeting communities and individuals with high risk behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a police officer's use of alcohol in his/her personal life affected their arrest decision in impaired driving cases. A survey was developed and reviewed by a jury of experts consisting of traffic safety specialists from across Indiana, to gather information concerning officer demographics, use of alcohol, and belief in the importance of impaired driving enforcement. Results indicated that sixty-one (61) officers fit the criteria of 1) patrolling during darkness hours throughout the year 2002, and 2) were complete the survey. Most officers were male (88%), between twenty-one and thirty-five years of age (79%), and had less than ten years of law enforcement experience (74%).The data were analyzed using univariate, bivariate, and ANOVA to test the null hypothesis. There was no statistical relationship between the decision to arrest and the personal use of alcohol by the officer. There was also no statistical relationship between the decision to arrest and any of the demographic categories. The only item that showed a statistical relationship was between the decision to arrest and an officer indicating they believed the problem of impaired driving was somewhat important.
Department of Physiology and Health Science

Four field experiments were conducted to examine situational determinants of alcohol consumption at university fraternity parties. Certain manipulated variables were relevant to the development of environmental strategies for predicting and decreasing excessive alcohol consumption and deterring alcohol impaired driving. When entering university-sanctioned parties, students were asked a few questions and then they received a drink container and a stick-on badge, each with an ID number. During these parties, individual drinking rates of beer and mixed drinks or beer only were monitored under varying environmental conditions. When exiting the party, students' blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were obtained with a breathalizer. In Experiment 1, three types of beer (Budweiser, Bud Light, and LA) were available in kegs labeled "A", "B", and "C". At a second party the kegs were labeled according to beer content (i.e., Budweiser, Bud Light, and LA). Results showed significant differences in drink choice across parties, with Budweiser most preferred by males and females when kegs did not indicate beer content and Bud Light most preferred by males and females when the kegs were labeled according to brand. The low alcohol (LA) choice was only selected substantially when the kegs did not reflect beer content. In Experiment 2, students of legal—drinking age at each of two weekend fraternity parties chose one of two types of alcoholic beverages (beer or mixed drinks) to consume throughout the night. Unbeknownst to the partiers, at the first of these two parties the beer drinkers were served regular beer, whereas at the second party low alcohol beer was served. Drinking rates were similar for beer and mixed-drink consumption at both parties; at the party with LA beer, students‘ mean BAC when leaving the party was significantly lower for the beer drinkers (i.e., .026 for LA consumers vs. .063 for mixed-drink consumers) For Experiment 3, students of legal drinking age at a weekend fraternity party chose one of two types of alcoholic beverages (beer or mixed drinks) to drink throughout the night. Unbeknownst to the partiers, drinkers were randomly assigned to either a regular alcohol content or low alcohol content version of their preferred beverage type. The drinking rates were greater for beer drinkers than for partiers consuming mixed drinks. Drinking rates were similar for both the low and regular alcohol alternatives. However, exit BAC was significantly greater for those in the regular-alcohol conditions. In Experiment 4, the alcoholic beverages available to students of legal—drinking age at one party (i.e., mixed drinks and beer) were served either by bartenders or served by themselves. A test of the theory of reasoned action was conducted by attempting to predict the number of drinks consumed and exit BAC from measures of general and specific intentions obtained two weeks before the party and at the start of the party. Specific drinking intentions obtained at the start of the party predicted a significant amount of variance in exit BAC (R = .59). The manipulation of situational variables also accounted for a portion of the variance in the number of drinks consumed and exit BAC. One environmental determinant at this party was the nature of drink delivery (i.e., self-serve vs. bartender). Male and female beer drinkers assigned to the Self-Serve condition drank at a higher rate and consumed more of their preferred beverage type than did those drinkers served by a bartender, or by those consuming mixed drinks in the self-serve condition. This increase was highest for male partiers. Male and female mixed drink consumers assigned to the Self·Serve condition drank at the lowest rate and consumed the least amount of their preferred beverage type.
Ph. D.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of a video game task in comparison to _a pursuit tracking task for the purpose of· detecting alcohol impairment. To carry out this objective, the two tasks used in this study were compared for difficulty in Phase I. The conclusions from Phase I are: 1) that subjects selected higher RPM's to represent a higher level of difficulty, and 2) that the higher RPM's selected resulted in decreased performance compared to lower RPM's. Performance on the two tasks under various levels of BAC was then measured in Phase II. The general conclusions from Phase II are: 1) that performance of both tasks was significantly affected by BAC and Difficulty, and 2) that a greater decrement in performance due to BAC was observed for the video game task than for the pursuit tacking task. The results and implications of the two phases of research will be discussed further in the following two subsections.
Master of Science

Varje år omkommer cirka 500 personer i trafiken och runt 20 000 personer skadas. Betydande riskfaktorer till trafikolyckor är alkohol och droger som blivit allt vanligare förekommande. Det uppskattas att mellan 12 500 – 15 000 personer kör onyktra på landets vägar dagligen. Rattfylleristerna domineras av yngre och medelålders män och ungefär två tredjedelar av rattfylleristerna har ett alkoholproblem. Samhället arbetar aktivt för att minska rattfylleri och en arbetsmodell som haft positiva resultat är SMADIT (Samverken mot alkohol och droger i trafiken). Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka erfarenheter av att arbeta med modellen SMADIT Västmanland bland polis och personer inom socialtjänsten i Västmanlands län. Till studien användes en kvalitativ metod i form av intervjuer och totalt intervjuades sex personer. Intervjuerna analyserades sedan genom en innehållsanalys. Resultatet visade att det fanns en positiv inställning till arbetet och att det kändes meningsfullt. Det fanns dock vissa brister i modellen så som praktiska problem och bristande samverkan. Det efterlyses därför tätare nätverksträffar mellan aktörerna samt bättre återkoppling till polisen. Det finns en positiv inställning till SMADITS fortlevnad i framtiden och förhoppningen är att fler rattfyllerister tackar ja till erbjudandet om samtal med socialtjänsten.

Each year, approximately 500 people are killed in traffic and around 20 000 are injured. Significant risk factors for traffic accidents are alcohol and drug intake that have become increasingly prevalent. The daily estimate of people driving under influence of alcohol is between 12 500 - 15 000. Drunk drivers are dominated by young and middle-aged men and about two-thirds of drunk drivers have alcohol problems. The society is actively working to reduce drunken driving and a model that has had positive results is SMADIT (Cooperation against alcohol and drugs in traffic). The aim of this study was to examine the experience of working with SMADIT Västmanland among police and social workers in Västmanland County. For the study a qualitative approach was used in the form of interviews and totally six individuals were interwied. The interviews were analyzed through a content analysis. The results showed that there was a positive attitude to work with SMADIT and that the model felt meaningful. But there were some shortcomings in the model, like practical problems and difficulties in cooperating. It therefore calls for closer meetings and better feedback to the police. There is a positive attitude towards SMADIT in the future and the hope is that more drunk drivers take the opportunity to talk with the social services.

Alcohol is an important economic and cultural commodity. It also represents a significant public health problem. Alcohol is the third greatest risk factor for the global disease burden even though half of the global population abstain. Currently alcohol control strategies are inadequate and unable to combat the health, social and economic problems caused by a legal drug that has become more widely available, more affordable and promoted aggressively. This thesis considers how alcohol control policy is governed, developed and implemented at global, European, UK and Scottish policy levels with specific focus on the role of the alcohol industry in this area. Contemporary modes of governance are increasingly characterised by a multi-agency partnership approach where unelected stakeholders, including corporate partners, contribute to the development and implementation of policy and of action out with policy. The research investigates the role of the alcohol industry within discourses and action in efforts to reduce alcohol related harm. It aims to identify alcohol industry action at global, European, UK and Scottish levels of authority in order to offer an overview of the extent of action and in turn its influence on policy discourses. The research provides an analysis of the alcohol industry as a political operator. The alcohol industry engages with, and in some respects is, a stakeholder active within public health policy circles in relation to alcohol control. This engagement spans science, research, corporate social responsibility, philanthropy, lobbying and direct engagement within official policy circles. The thesis uses the alcohol industry as a case study that highlights a need for research on how influence is wielded by corporate interests within policy circles. There is acknowledgement in various theoretical accounts on governance that changing modes of governance have resulted in the creation of a space for non-state actors within policy circles. However, thereafter, the role of corporate actors is habitually underestimated and even overlooked all together. The argument presented here is that the role of powerful economic interests is rapidly gaining significance as a factor in policy making. This must be explored further in order to ascertain the extent of the influence and the ways in which economic actors exert influence. Methodologically the research examines policy documents, and industry communications as well as adopting an investigative approach to the strategies and agendas of a variety of policy stakeholders. The outcome is a narrative derived from a synthesis of existing sources that explores the area of alcohol control policy which focuses on the involvement of corporate stakeholders with a clear conflict of interest within the process of developing health policy in relation to alcohol. The results indicate that the influence of corporate actors represents a significant and growing threat to the development and implementation of effective evidence based alcohol control policy. Overall the research is intended to make a contribution to academic and public debates on governance and to support public health efforts to reduce alcohol related harm. It attempts to explore the accumulation of corporate action over multiple levels of authority and to describe and evaluate the effects of this accumulative action on public health policy in relation to alcohol.

While overall road deaths in Australia have fallen since the late 1980's and the impact of road-safety advertising appears to be positive, alcohol-related road fatalities remain the leading cause of death among young Australian adults. Fatality and injury rates continue within this cohort despite increases in alcohol-related knowledge, continuing education efforts in the Australian school system, increased funding for police enforcement and high media presence of road safety advertising (Peder et al 2004). Notwithstanding advances in communication technologies, highly graphic, emotional, shock style television advertising remains the primary medium for road safety message dissemination. Rather than targeting those highest at-risk for drink driving, road safety advertisements typically target an undifferentiated general audience. To date understanding the process by which road safety advertising influences attitudes and behaviour has been the centre of fear arousal research. Nonetheless, there has been little examination of how young adults who differ in drink-driving risk-propensity (high versus low) respond to and process anti-drink driving advertisements designed to modify an avoidable behaviour. Taking a receiver oriented approach, the focus of this study examines how young adult, novice drivers who differ in 'need-for-sensation' (NFS) risk propensity respond to, and process, anti-drink driving advertisements that differ in arousal capacity (i.e. high, low sensation-value). The investigation was conducted in two stages: Study 1 (qualitative) and Study II (quantitative). Study I, the qualitative phase, explored by focus group interviews attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and experiences of sixty young adults aged 18 to 25 years towards alcohol consumption, drink-driving, and anti-drink driving advertising. The major qualitative finding is that young adults characterise drink-driving as a rational, deliberate, planned and accepted behaviour. Young adults were aware of the choices available for not drinking and driving and were aware of the health, social and physical (self and property) risks associated with alcohol consumption and associated behaviours. Nonetheless, the short-term personal experiences of revelry and group cohesion were more pertinent to them on an everyday basis. Alcohol consumption and drink-driving behaviour did not appear to differ between university and nonuniversity students or gender, yet there were differences in attitudes and behaviour across the degree studied within the university cohort. Study II, the quantitative phase, was segmented into three sections. First, the study provides empirical support for NFS as a relevant a priori individual differences segmentation variable for differentiating between those more likely, versus less likely, to engage in responsible drink-driving behaviour. As expected low NFS individuals were more likely to not drink and drive. Second, findings support an interaction effect between an advertisement's sensation value and individual differences variable, NFS, on response outcomes. High NFS individuals engaged in higher levels of adaptive appraisal on the high sensation-value advertisement condition as compared to the low sensationvalue advertisement condition. Low NFS individuals did not discriminate across either advertisement condition. Adaptive appraisal was not counteracted by a corresponding increase in maladaptive appraisal. Both high and low NFS individuals viewed the high sensation-value advertisement condition with high levels of perceived threat and viewed the low sensation-value advertisement with higher levels of perceived efficacy. Yet, although high NFS individuals viewed the high sensation-value advertisement with high levels of threat they simultaneously viewed this advertisement with low levels of perceived efficacy. Third, NFS was not found to be a strong predictor moderating the relationship between message processing (cognitive, sensory, narrative) and response outcomes. The findings indicate strong support for a direct relationship between two modes of message processing: cognitive and narrative processing and response outcomes. Message recipients processed anti-drink driving advertisements via two routes to persuasion. There was stronger cognitive processing evident on advertisements possessing high arousal capacity, whereas stronger narrative processing was evident on low arousal capacity advertisements. This study suggests that those advertisements that possess high arousal capacity have the capability of facilitating attention to the central argument, the consequences of drinking and driving, as well as how drinking and driving may affect the message recipients' life. Alternatively, those messages that impart high levels of rational information have the capability of increasing attention to the peripheral cues in the message. It is also suggested that different styles of message processing, central versus peripheral, act in a synergistic way to influence response outcomes which indicates that there is no single route to persuasion. Individuals process messages in a complex manner attending to various signals in order to evaluate various components of the message. For road safety practitioners and social marketers the results of this study illustrates practical benefits for the design of anti-drink driving advertisements based on the segmentation variable NFS. The finding that high NFS individuals require advertisements that possess high levels of arousal capacity (i.e.: high in sensation-value) is an important development. Importantly, low NFS individuals do not discriminate in accepting the recommendations of advertisements that differ in arousal capacity clearly suggests that they accept messages regardless of their arousal capacity. This finding indicates that the goal of road traffic authorities, advertising agencies and social marketers should be directed towards targeting high NFS individuals who are more atrisk for a drink-drive fatality. That message recipients process anti-drink driving messages via two routes to persuasion indicates that message designers need to consider the mix between the sensation-value of the message and consideration of the way message recipients' process the message, i.e. via central/systematic versus peripheral/heuristic components of the advertisement. Further investigation into the dual processing of anti-drink driving advertisements once individuals are exposed to the message is warranted to further understand the psychological processes influencing message processing. The findings of this research have important implications for both practitioners and academics. This research has provided an insight into the complexity of young adult's response outcomes and message processing of fear-based anti-drink driving messages.

Background: While the overall proportion of young people who report drinking alcohol in the UK appears to have decreased over the past fifteen years, those who do drink are consuming in larger quantities, and drinking more frequently. An association between industry-driven alcohol marketing and young people’s drinking behaviour has been demonstrated in a number of cross-sectional, longitudinal and qualitative studies, but less is known about how young people are affected by alcohol marketing and how marketing processes knit with other widely studied influences on young people’s drinking behaviour. This study aimed to investigate the influence of industrydriven alcohol marketing processes (price, promotion, product branding and placing) on young people’s drinking choices and behaviour. Methods: A mixed-methods approach underpinned by a critical realist perspective was adopted. A systematic review examined empirical studies concerning the impact of industry-driven price and other marketing techniques on young people’s drinking behaviour. Qualitative interviews were conducted with young people aged 14-17 from NE England (n=31) to explore accounts of when, why, where and how they drink alcohol. Q methodology was used to derive ‘factors’ underlying alcohol choices, based on the results of a card sorting procedure undertaken with young people aged 14-17 from NE England (n=28). Findings: The systematic review identified 32 papers which were predominantly crosssectional in design, and focused on the impact of alcohol promotion on young people’s alcohol use. Although industry-driven alcohol marketing appeared to influence young people’s drinking behaviour, studies reported on a variety of populations, study designs, exposure measures and outcome measures, making synthesis and extrapolation difficult, as well as underlining a shortage of longitudinal work establishing the effect of alcohol marketing over time. The review highlighted a paucity of studies conducted in the UK as well as a lack of research examining the influence of price for those under the legal drinking age only and exploring the impact of digital or social media marketing on young people’s drinking behaviour. Young people interviewed in the qualitative study appeared to make micro-level choices about alcohol (between products and brands), positioning themselves as autonomous agents and unaffected by overt forms of alcohol marketing. However, the majority of participants were able to recount brands and slogans, did not recognise less visible aspects of promotion (e.g. sponsorship, viral and digital marketing) and did not associate the pricing of alcohol as a form of marketing. Therefore, advertising and other promotional activity seemed to play a role in building recognisable imagery linked to alcohol products, as well as associations and expectancies related to drinking. The advisability of drinking per se did not appear to have been questioned by participants and was considered an acceptable and normal practice. Participants reported that they were not exclusively price-led and choices were made in conjunction with other criteria (e.g. taste, availability, strength and image). Q factor analysis revealed three accounts: Factor one illustrates a sense of individuality, autonomy, and maturity in alcohol choices; factor two is price-led, choosing to drink whatever is most accessible, cheapest or on special offer; and factor three is an account of bounded adventure, pleasure and hedonism. Conclusions: Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’ is drawn on to illustrate that young people’s alcohol choices are influenced by structural predispositions (including industry processes and alcohol marketing) but that ‘taste’, social norms and interpersonal relationships (recognised as agency) can also play a role in reinforcing, normalising and driving behaviour. Deeply embedded social norms and industry processes culminate in ‘political economies of health’ where health behaviours are governed by historical traditions and the logic of advanced capitalism (the need to make a profit), and choices constrained into seemingly free, naturalised directions. Thus, a description of young people as individual, rational agents, who can make the ‘correct’ choices about alcohol use, minimises structural and cultural factors that are, in part, shaped by the alcohol industry in conjunction with other influences such as inter-personal relationships and social norms, and which constrain health choices and behaviours of young people. Public Responsibility Deals and voluntary self-regulation of alcohol marketing may be inadequate to counter this. Instead, it needs to be identified that young people are being subtly bombarded and further work is required to ‘unravel’ this impact. Nevertheless, tighter restrictions on the marketing of alcohol, such as a policy resembling France’s Loi Evin should be given consideration. The current alcohol strategy for England and Wales includes a commitment to implementing an alcohol minimum unit price. However, findings from this doctoral work demonstrate that it is difficult to disentangle the four elements of the marketing mix. Price encompasses just one facet of alcohol marketing and makes up only a small part of the external world in which young people are becoming acculturated. The effect that price changes alone could have on young people’s alcohol use should not be overemphasised. Thus, as well as examining the impact of price on young people’s drinking behaviour pre and post legislative change, further work should also explore the changing nature of industry-driven alcohol marketing processes. In particular, the influence of digital and social media marketing on young people’s drinking behaviour needs to be examined further, as well as the combined contribution that alcohol marketing, long-standing social norms and inter-personal relationships (‘the alcohol habitus’) all can make towards a ubiquitous culture of alcohol consumption.

Concern remains regarding the efficacy of drink driving countermeasures to produce lasting change for repeat offenders, as a wide array of countermeasures have been developed that demonstrate varying levels of success in reducing re-offence rates. This thesis proposes that the collection and examination of repeat offenders' self-reported perceptions, experiences and behavioural changes that result from completing court-ordered interventions can provide valuable contributions to the development of effective sentencing strategies. As a result, the program of research implemented a mixed-method design to investigate the self-reported impact of legal sanctions, a drink driving rehabilitation program, and alcohol ignition interlocks on key outcome measures for a group of recidivist drink drivers.----- Study One incorporated a cross-sectional design to examine the deterrent effect of traditional legal sanctions (e.g., fines and licence disqualification periods), non-legal sanctions, alcohol consumption, recent offending behaviour(s), and the actual severity of sanctions on perceptual deterrence and intentions to re-offend. The study involved face-to-face and telephone interviews with 166 repeat offenders. The analysis indicated that participants perceived legal sanctions to be severe, but not entirely certain nor swift.----- In Study One, self-reported recent drink driving behaviours and alcohol consumption levels were identified as predictors of future intentions to drink and drive. The results suggest that habitual behaviours are difficult to change, and heavy alcohol consumption levels increase the probability of re-offending. At a bivariate level, three non-legal sanctions were negatively associated with intentions to re-offend but were not predictors of future intentions to drink and drive in the model. In addition, a relationship was not evident between: (a) the size of the penalties and perceptions of sanction severity or future intentions to drink and drive, and (b) the number of previous convictions and self-reported deterrence. The findings of the study confirm the popular assumption that some repeat offenders are impervious to the threat and application of legal sanctions.----- Study Two examined the stages of change and self-efficacy levels of 132 repeat offenders - who were all involved in Study One - while they completed an 11 week drink driving rehabilitation program. A repeated measures design was implemented to focus on the impact of the intervention on a number of salient program outcomes such as participants' motivations and self-efficacy levels to control and change their drinking and drink driving behaviour(s). Prior to program commencement, the majority of participants were motivated to change their drinking driving, but not their drinking. The sample also reported high self-efficacy levels to control the two behaviours, but did not have high expectations of the effectiveness of the program.----- Upon completion of the program, significant increases were evident in motivations to change drinking and drink driving behaviours, and a large percentage of participants reported a positive appraisal of the effectiveness of the intervention. Program completion also resulted in a reduction in self-reported alcohol consumption levels, yet the majority of the sample continued to consume harmful levels of alcohol. Self-efficacy levels remained high, although a notable finding was that participants reported higher levels of control over their drinking rather than drink driving behaviours. In general, Study Two provided a positive perspective of the capacity of a drink driving rehabilitation program to produce change for a group of repeat offenders.----- Study Two extended a small body of research and examined the effects that mandated program enrolment has on motivations to change, as well as expectations and appraisals of program effectiveness. Contrary to predictions, mandated participants did not report lower levels of motivation to change drinking and drink driving compared to voluntary attendees, but did indicate lower expectations of the effectiveness of the program, as well as being willing to engage in the program. Furthermore upon program completion, mandated participants also reported lower appraisals of the effectiveness of the program, but this factor was not associated with intentions to re-offend or non-program completion. Rather, not successfully completing the program appeared linked with being unwilling to change drinking behaviours.----- Study Three involved a longitudinal case-study design that utilised both quantitative and qualitative data to conduct one of the first examinations of the impact of alcohol ignition interlocks on a group of recidivist drink drivers from a users' perspective. The study investigated 12 participants' self-reported perceptions and experiences of using an interlock and the effect that the device had on key program outcomes such as drinking levels, operational performance, circumvention attempts and general beliefs regarding the effectiveness of the device in comparison to traditional legal sanctions.----- Participants reported positive appraisals regarding the effectiveness of the device as qualitative themes emerged concerning the educational and practical benefits of interlocks. However, closer examination of individual interlock performances revealed each participant had attempted to start their vehicle after consuming alcohol, and a smaller sample of three drivers were regularly attempting to start their vehicle after drinking. The combination and analysis of self-reported and downloaded interlock data revealed four main themes: (a) initial operational difficulties, (b) a general unwillingness to reduce alcohol consumption levels, (c) an unwillingness to acknowledge/recognise that interlock breath violations resulted from drinking, and (d) an overall decline in the frequency of interlock breath violations over the interlock installation period. Similar to Study Two, a notable finding was that half the sample was still consuming harmful levels of alcohol upon program completion.----- Taken together, the results of the program of research highlight that repeat offenders' entrenched behaviours, such as drinking and drink driving, are resistant to change and that multi-modal interventions are required if the drinking and driving sequence is to be broken for this population. The findings have direct implications for the sentencing and management of repeat offenders and the development of countermeasures that attempt to produce long-term behavioural change.

碩士
國立臺北大學
犯罪學研究所
104
As fatal events because of drunk-driving accidents still frequently happened, the public never stop their requests to increase the penalties of drunk-driving. Since June 13, 2013, the drunk-driving over breath alcohol content 0.25 milligrams per liter was regarded as offense against Public Safety Chapter and will be transferred to Prosecutors’ Office for investigation. Additionally, the penalty of 3rd time within 5 years breaking Criminal Code Article 185-3 can’t be commuted to a fine. Under this kind of draconian punishment, the correctional institutions seem to be drunk-driving prisoners’ Nursing House. The sentences of over 90% of the drunk-driving prisoners are less than 6 months. In such short period of implementation, it’s unable to effectively change their drinking habits and bad perception of using alcohol by the general treatment measures in prison, resulting in coming back again to prison very quick after previous release. Based on the Alcohol Abstinence Programs (AAP) of Taipei Detention Center (TDC) started in 2013, the purpose of this study is to evaluate how is the alcohol-quitting effectiveness by experimental method between those joined AAP and those didn’t. The study samples were divided into two groups: the control group (not to participate in programs) and the experimental group (programs participation). There are 30 prisoners in each group, and the samples are sourcing from drunk-driving prisoners with sentences over 4 months in TDC. The samples are mainly from 2 workshops, therefore, they were chosen evenly and assigned to each group. Last for 2 months, the experimental group participated in AAP and the control group joined routine treatment activities. This study used the questionnaires designed by TDC itself as the measuring tool to pretest and post-test. The results show: 1. For basic characteristics of the individual, such as: age, education, marital status, occupation before implementation, religion, times of implementation, sentences, progressive treatment grade and the time been in prison, there is no significant difference between the 2 groups. The result has homogeneity, such as, mostly aged at 36-45 years old, poor education, mostly single or divorced, low socioeconomic status, most of them believing in religion, mainly first implementation, most sentences between 6 months and 1 year, mainly on 4th grade of progressive treatment, and the time been in prison less than 6 months at majority. These features are consistent with drunk-driver characteristics of past related researches. 2. After 2 months participating in AAP, the experimental group obviously got much more scores than control group. 3. The pretest scores of control group are significantly higher than experimental group. The result of this research evaluation shows, through currently existing AAP in TDC, the subjects in this survey can change himself in 9 aspects, including family support, physical capability...etc. In the future, the result of this study can be a reference for possible revision of AAP in TDC. Moreover, AAP should strengthen the employment and career counseling programs, and regard them as formal courses. Finally, this program can be implemented and experimented its result outside correctional institutions. If the effect is similar, this study suggested, in the future for drunk-driving cases, it could take good advantage of Diversion Action and combine social resources to offer drunk-driving prisoners services to quit alcohol by similar courses in community. Key words：prison, drunk-driving prisoners, alcohol abstinence programs, evaluation

碩士
國立成功大學
交通管理科學系碩士在職專班
104
Drunk driving warning systems are used to detect unlawful behavior while driving under the influence and to remind the driver not to drive during or after the consumption of alcohol. It also measures the driver’s alcohol concentration and notifies the driver via images and audio. This study proposes using the Raspberry pi B+ microcomputer development board, MCP3008; MQ-3 alcohol sensor; and other technologies along with Python, a dynamic object-oriented programming language to develop a simple drunk driving warning system. This system, created using the Raspberry pi B+ microcomputer development board, has better scalability and requires only the addition of a module on top of the original hardware and a software update. Moreover, its additional functions do not depreciate the functions of original vehicle equipment, and by changing the connection method, a large amount of hardware installation costs can be saved. This system was used in a large bus. Breathalyzer tests were conducted by the driver, and notification was given via audio and images to prevent the unlawful behavior of drunk driving.

This dissertation aims at determining the possible effects of alcoholic hangover on human behaviour by examining the effects of acute alcohol consumption (> 1g/kg) 14-16 hours following alcohol ingestion on simple and choice reaction times, divided attention tasks and driving skills. The hypotheses are that cognitive and behavioural functioning is impaired even after the blood alcohol concentration level has returned to zero The California Computerised Assessment Package (CALCAP) together with selected driving skills tasks, repeated breath analysis measures, a biographical questionnaire, a subjective hangover rating scale, and blood glucose tests were administered to a group of 63 mixed gender student volunteers. The experimental group and was tested prior to, and during hangover. The control group was pre- and post-tested in order to determif.le the impact of practice effects. Results indicate that hangover individuals performed less well than control subjects on measures of reaction time and driving precision. Further more, the findings show that subjective experience of hangover is not a good predictor of reaction time or driving performance, and that the absence of hangover symptoms does not guarantee full mental recovery. Statistical analysis of the data showed that post-test findings could not be attributed to a gender effect.
Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

The research attempts to evaluate the maintaining of the chain of evidence as a process of effective collection, handling and preservation of evidence. The concept "chain of evidence" refers to the process of collecting, handling and preservation of evidence until its presentation in court, as part of the investigation process. Evidence is anything that tends logically to prove or disprove a fact at issue in a judicial case. Evidence essentially consists of oral evidence, documentary evidence and real evidence. The value of evidence cannot be underestimated as evidence can make or break a case. It is therefore important that evidence is correctly and properly collected, handled and preserved to establish a strong link between an individual and a specific act.
Police Practice
Thesis ((M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation) Police Practice))

The MA thesis "Minimum Legal Drinking Age in the U.S.: A Reasonable Exception to Age of Majority?" examines the U.S. legal limit for consumption of alcohol from the perspective of policies aimed at controlling drunk driving because the minimum drinking age was set to twenty-one - higher than the age of majority - in order to reduce drunk-driving fatalities. The thesis analyzes different aspects of this issue and concludes that the high minimum legal drinking, which constitutes a severe limitation of personal freedom of those aged eighteen to twenty, did not fulfill the expectations with which it was introduced in 1984. The thesis suggests alternatives to the high age limit, and examines how and if they are implemented or what prevents their frequent use. The thesis has four parts: one provides basic facts about drinking, driving, and drunk driving in the U.S. society including the attitudes of the public toward the issue. The following part looks into the legal developments of the drinking age limits and legal challenges to the law arranging the age limit for its supposed unconstitutionality. The third chapter looks at the results of scientific research and suggests ways to deal with drunk driving more efficiently. The last part examines what prevents these more effective measures from being widely...

Les contrevenants de la conduite avec capacités affaiblies (CCA) n’entrent pas tous dans les registres de la sécurité routière avec le même risque de récidive. Pour pallier cette hétérogénéité, cette thèse propose de modéliser les interrelations entre les traits de personnalité et les comportements à risque associés à la récidive et de détecter un sous-groupe de contrevenants au risque de récidive élevé à l’aide de l’axe hypothalamo-hypophyso-surrénalien (HHS). Plus particulièrement, les trois articles de cette thèse s’intéressent au cortisol, l’hormone du stress. Le premier article élabore un modèle théorique réconciliant les connaissances sur l’axe HHS issues du domaine de la CCA et de domaines connexes. Lors de précédentes études, le nombre de condamnations antérieures pour CCA a été associé négativement à la réactivité du cortisol à la suite d’une situation stressante. Chez les récidivistes, cette faible réactivité s’explique partiellement par la recherche d’expériences, une dimension de la recherche de sensations. Au-delà ce trait de personnalité désinhibiteur, une faible activité de l’axe HHS a été associée à d’autres traits (c.-à-d. impulsivité et tendances antisociales) et d’autres comportements à risque (c.-à-d. infractions routières, arrestations criminelles et consommation problématique de substances psychoactives). Ce modèle intégrant la réactivité du cortisol permet une conceptualisation approfondie des diverses caractéristiques des contrevenants de la CCA et explique hypothétiquement la répétition des comportements à risque. Les deux articles suivants se penchent sur l’intérêt empirique d’utiliser l’axe HHS pour déterminer un sous-groupe de contrevenants à risque élevé de récidive. Plus précisément, le deuxième article émet l’hypothèse que les récidivistes (n = 30) ayant une faible activité de leur cortisol (c.-à-d. médiane de la surface sous la courbe relative au niveau de base et relative à la réactivité) ont davantage de traits de personnalité désinhibiteurs et de comportements à risque que les récidivistes ayant une forte activité. L’hypothèse n’a pas été confirmée. Au contraire, les récidivistes présentant une faible réactivité commettent moins d’infractions routières et d’arrestations criminelles que ceux ayant une forte réactivité. Quant à lui, le troisième article investigue une hypothèse similaire auprès des contrevenants primaires (n = 139). Les contrevenants manifestant une faible réactivité du cortisol (c.-à-d. différence entre prélèvements post-stress et pré-stress) ont davantage d’impulsivité attentionnelle, de non-planification, d’arrestations criminelles et de cigarettes fumées par jour que les contrevenants ayant une forte réactivité. Lors d’analyses exploratoires, la présence d’une variété de traits de personnalité désinhibiteurs et de comportements à risque chez les contrevenants primaires présentant une faible réactivité lorsque comparé au groupe contrôle (n = 31) suggère encore une fois leur risque élevé de récidive. L’intérêt d’ajouter un mécanisme neurobiologique pour modéliser les interrelations entre les traits de personnalité désinhibiteurs et les comportements à risque des contrevenants de la CCA a été exploré dans cette thèse. La détermination d’un sous-groupe de contrevenants présentant un risque élevé de récidive, à l’aide de l’axe HHS, semble davantage profitable auprès de l’hétérogène population des contrevenants primaires. En contrepartie, l’axe HHS ne permet pas de déterminer un sous-groupe ayant une problématique sévère auprès des récidivistes à l’extrême du continuum du risque.
Among driving while impaired (DWI) offenders, the risk of recidivism varies greatly. In order to overcome the heterogeneity among this population, the present thesis proposed a renewed conceptualization of DWI. More specifically, a model integrating disinhibitory personality traits and high-risk behaviours associated with DWI recidivism and the categorization of a high-risk subgroup of offenders based on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity has been proposed. Three manuscripts aimed to answer these general objectives using salivary cortisol, that is, the stress hormone. In the first manuscript, the current HPA axis literature of DWI offenders and other high-risk populations have been merged into a comprehensive theoretical model. Previous studies have demonstrated an inverse correlation between DWI convictions frequency and cortisol reactivity to stress. Among recidivists, cortisol reactivity was partially explained by experience seeking, a sensation seeking dimension. Beyond this disinhibitory personality trait, low HPA axis activity has been linked to various traits (e.g., impulsivity and antisocial tendencies) and high-risk behaviours (e.g., traffic infractions, criminal arrests, and psychoactive drugs). By incorporating cortisol reactivity, this model stimulates a thorough conceptualization of several DWI offenders’ characteristics and as such, explains hypothetically repetition of high-risk behaviours. The following manuscripts are less theoretical and more empirical. The detection of a high-risk recidivism subgroup delineated with HPA axis activity has been investigated among two DWI offender populations. More specifically, the second manuscript hypothesized that among DWI recidivists (n = 30), low cortisol responders have more characteristics linked to recidivism such as disinhibitory personality traits and high-risk behaviours than high cortisol responders (as defined by the area under the curve sensitive to total hormonal release and to response to stimulation). This hypothesis was not supported. On the contrary, low cortisol DWI recidivists have less traffic infractions and criminal arrests than high cortisol recidivists. Finally, the third manuscript investigated a similar hypothesis but this time, among first-time DWI offenders (n = 139). Results demonstrated that low cortisol offenders have more attentional impulsiveness, non-planning impulsiveness, criminal arrests and cigarettes consumed per day than high cortisol offenders (as defined by post-stress minus pre-test episode). An exploratory analysis showed a more prevalent variety of disinhibitory personality trait and high-risk behaviours among low cortisol offenders compared to a non-DWI comparator group (n = 31). These results reinforce the potentially higher recidivism risk of this first-time DWI offenders subgroup. Neurobiological mechanism usefulness in modelling disinhibitory personality trait and high-risk behaviours of DWI offenders has been investigated in the present thesis. Additionally, detection of a high-risk recidivism subgroup seems more relevant among heterogeneous first-time DWI offenders. Instead, HPA axis activity is not as useful in detecting a problematic subgroup among the most severe offenders, namely recidivists.