Research Papers (2009 – 2013)

Abstract

While research has identified beneficial effects of the introduction of many programs and policies aimed to reduce drinking driving in recent decades, no estimates of cumulative effects of these initiatives are available. We use research-based estimates of the effects of drinking driving policies and programs in Ontario to estimate their impact in terms of deaths, injuries, and collisions prevented and costs saved between 1970 and 2006. This evaluation involved three components: 1) reviews of research studies and meta-analyses to estimate the impact of successful drinking driving policies; 2) estimation of deaths, injuries, and collisions prevented; and 3) application of two methods to estimate costs averted due to Ontario’s drinking driving policies. The policies contributing to successful prevention of drinking driving in Ontario identified were: legal limit (per se) law, raising the drinking age from 18 to 19, remedial measures, RIDE program, graduated licensing,administrative license suspensions, and maintaining the public monopoly on alcohol sales. We projected deaths, injuries, and property damage collisions prevented for each policy from the year of its introduction to 2006. Two methods were used to estimate costs averted bypolicies: 1) human capital – discounted future earnings method; and 2) willingness to pay method. The drinking driving policies and programs examined prevented an estimated total of 4,887 deaths, 178,238 injuries and 132,182 collisions in Ontario over this time period. The estimated total costs averted were $8.5 Billion (human capital – discounted future earnings method) or $78 Billion (willingness to pay method).

Christine M. Wickens, Robert E. Mann, Jürgen Rehm, Gina Stoduto, Hyacinth Irving, Angela Paglia-Boak, Anca Ialomiteanu, Reginald G. Smart, Jayadeep Patra, Svetlana Popova, Rita Thomas, Benjamin Taylor