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<title>Jay's World of Abstracts 00016: Zero Tolerance Laws for Youth SYNTHESIS</title>
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content="An abstract of some statistics related to teen alcohol use and zero-tolerance laws.">
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<h2 align="right">Jay's World of Abstracts 00016</h2><hr>
<div align="center"><h1>Zero Tolerance Laws for Youth SYNTHESIS</h1>
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<br>
U.S. Department of Transportation</div>
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<i>[Standard disclaimer: The nature of abstracts are that they are pieces of something larger. Not everyone is going to be happy with my choice of abstracts from any larger work, so if you are dissatisfied, I would refer you to the original document, which should be able to be found on the Internet. I encourage others to make their own abstracts to satisfy their needs. I would be happy to publish them here.</i>
<h3>Jay's Introduction</h3>
<p>Here are some actual FACTS about the subject of "zero telerance" from the venerable DOT.</p>
<i>I produced this abstract using time paid for by the Quay County Maternal Child and Community Health Council with funds from the New Mexico Department of Health.</i>
<hr>
<h3>Abstracts</h3>
<P>Persons of ages 16-20 years have the highest risk of a being killed in a
traffic crash of any age group (U.S. Department of Transportation, NHTSA,
1998). In fact, in 1998, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of
death for this age group. Additionally, 18-year-olds constituted the single year
age group with the highest number of fatalities (U.S. Department of
Transportation, NHTSA, In Press). More 21- year-olds died in alcohol-related
crashes than any other age group. This applies both to drivers and passengers.
In addition, some 22% of the drivers in the 16-20 year old age group's fatal
crashes had a BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) of .01 or higher. More
18-year-olds died in lower BAC (between .01 and .09) alcohol-related crashes
than any other age. In fact, 17-, 18-, 19-, 20-, 21- and 22-year-olds are the
top 6 ages of people that die in low BAC crashes. Zero tolerance laws for youth
address this problem directly.</P>
<P>The concept of zero tolerance laws for youth is based on a simple
proposition: since it is illegal for persons under 21 to drink beverage alcohol,
it should also be illegal for them to drive with any alcohol in their system.
Unfortunately, until fairly recently, many states' drinking driving laws failed
to acknowledge this, and the "legal limit" remained at .08 or .10 for drivers of
all ages. Now, all states and the District of Columbia have zero tolerance laws.
</P>
<P>These new laws differ in the maximum BAC they permit (.00, .01, or .02), the
way they are implemented, and their impact on enforcement, adjudication and
sanctioning. As a result of these variations, differences can be expected in the
laws' impact on youthful alcohol-related traffic crashes. This study examined
both process and impact issues related to the adoption and implementation of
these new laws in the four case-study states. The states were selected to
represent both states which have had zero tolerance laws for a long time and
ones which have more recently adopted such laws. The four states studied were
Florida, Maine, Oregon, and Texas.</P>
<i>[...]</i>
<P>Examination of crash data reveals a gradually increasing effect on nighttime
single vehicle injury crashes which now is at five percent. This reduction is
statistically significant, but is below what has been observed in some other
states and is likely to be a attributable at least partly to nighttime curfews
imposed by Florida's graduated licensing law.</P>
<i>[...]</i>
<P>It appears that the purely administrative character of Maine's zero tolerance
law provides many benefits to its smooth implementation with no perceptible
drawback.</P>
<P>Time series analyses reflect a dramatic 36% decrease in nighttime single
vehicle injury crashes for the affectable age group beginning in the months when
the legislative debate was underway about reducing the permissible level from
00 to .02. This benefit was maintained in the succeeding months after the law
formally went into effect.</P>
<i>[...]</i>
<P>The recent change in Oregon's zero tolerance law's applicability from persons
under 19 to all drivers under 21 is associated with a 40% reduction in nighttime
single vehicle injury crashes.</P>
<P>The zero tolerance law for drivers under 21 went into effect in the fall of
1997 in <EM>Texas</EM>. For the first year the law was in effect, the
arrest/suspension rate for the zero tolerance offense was fairly low. However,
during the next year, the rate rose to .87% of under 21 licensed drivers. Texas
has also mounted a fairly extensive public information and education program to
educate underage drivers about the new law. Nonetheless, examination of
statewide crash data does not reveal any reduction in nighttime single vehicle
injury crashes associated with the implementation of the law.</P>
<i>[...]</i>
<CENTER><STRONG>Table 6-2:</STRONG> Characteristics os Zero Tolerance Laws in
the Four Study States<BR>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 border=1>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD>Characteristic</TD>
<TD>Florida</TD>
<TD>Maine</TD>
<TD>Oregon</TD>
<TD>Texas</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Effective Date of Initial Zero Tolerance Law</TD>
<TD>1/97</TD>
<TD>6/83</TD>
<TD>7/89</TD>
<TD>9/97</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Effective date of measure studied</TD>
<TD>1/97</TD>
<TD>10/95</TD>
<TD>7/91</TD>
<TD>9/97</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Zero tolerance BAC level</TD>
<TD>.02</TD>
<TD>.00</TD>
<TD>.00</TD>
<TD>.00</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Administrative license action?</TD>
<TD>Yes</TD>
<TD>Yes</TD>
<TD>Yes</TD>
<TD>Yes</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>License suspension/revocation period</TD>
<TD>6 months</TD>
<TD>1 year</TD>
<TD>90 days</TD>
<TD>60 days</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Eligibility for hardship license begins</TD>
<TD>after 30 days</TD>
<TD>Immediately</TD>
<TD>after 30 days</TD>
<TD>after 30 days</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD>Passive alcohol sensors used?</TD>
<TD>No</TD>
<TD>No</TD>
<TD>Yes</TD>
<TD>Yes</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER>
<i>[...]</i>
<P>It may well be that in both Florida and Texas the law may have to "mature" to
demonstrate its ultimate effectiveness. That is, the law enforcement community
may need to become more comfortable with the law to be able to most effectively
enforce it, and the target population may have to be convinced that the law is
truly being enforced and implemented.</P>
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