Trends in drinking-driving at night : a comparison of the first five roadside surveys of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project : final report.
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Summary
This report evaluates the effectiveness of the Fairfax Alcohol Safety Action Project (ASAP), a federally funded demonstration program initiated in 1972 to reduce alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes. The study analyzes data from the first five annual roadside surveys conducted between January 1972 and October 1975. The primary research objectives were to measure changes in blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) among night drivers to assess overall project impact and to evaluate the efficacy of Public Information and Education countermeasures in disseminating knowledge of Virginia’s drunk driving laws. The methodology involved standardized roadside surveys conducted during peak drinking hours (7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.) across weeknights and weekends. Researchers utilized breath testing devices and structured questionnaires to collect data on BAC levels, demographic characteristics, driving habits, and alcohol knowledge. Sample sizes adhered to U.S. Department of Transportation guidelines, with minimum targets of 640 drivers for both weeknight and weekend periods. Sites were selected to represent rural and urban areas within Fairfax County, and participation rates ranged from 90% to 95%. The analysis compared the baseline survey (pre-implementation) with four subsequent annual surveys to identify trends in drinking behavior and legal knowledge. The findings indicate that the ASAP failed to reduce the incidence of drunken driving. BAC distributions shifted significantly over time, with proportionally fewer drivers registering negative or low BACs and more registering higher levels in the 1975 survey compared to earlier years. Consequently, the weighted BAC index was highest in the final survey. The most substantial increases in positive BACs and drivers exceeding the 0.10% presumptive limit occurred during the late-night period (12:40 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.) and on weekends. These increases were primarily driven by white males aged 20–39 and 50–59. Additionally, estimated numbers of drunken drivers and indices of accident probability rose over the five-year period, suggesting increased accident potential despite ASAP interventions. Regarding knowledge, while understanding of BAC definitions improved, knowledge of the legal presumptive limit decreased. Only 9.2% of respondents could correctly identify the number of drinks required to reach a 0.10% BAC, and a majority underestimated this threshold. The study concludes that the Fairfax ASAP did not achieve its goal of reducing drunken driving or associated crash risks. The data suggest that enforcement efforts should be concentrated during late-night hours on weekends, particularly targeting the demographic groups identified as having the highest BAC increases. Furthermore, the discrepancy between actual drinking behavior and driver perception, along with poor understanding of legal limits, highlights the need for improved public information campaigns. The report recommends that police patrols focus on the specific time periods and demographic segments where drunken driving prevalence increased most significantly.
Key finding
The proportion of night drivers with higher blood alcohol concentrations increased significantly from 1972 to 1975, resulting in a higher weighted BAC index and increased estimated accident probability despite the implementation of the Fairfax ASAP countermeasures.
Methodology
naturalistic
Sample size: 1698
Provenance
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| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
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| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 20 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence