Evaluation of Innovative State and Community Alcohol Projects: Breath Alcohol Testing Program Effectiveness, Impact and Transferability
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Summary
This 1987 report, sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), evaluates the effectiveness, impact, and transferability of Breath Alcohol Testing (BAT) programs implemented by the Albuquerque and Santa Fe Police Departments in New Mexico. The study addresses the problem of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) by assessing whether specialized enforcement squads utilizing mobile BAT units could increase apprehension rates and reduce alcohol-related crashes. The evaluation was motivated by the need to determine if these community-level countermeasures, which rely on deterrence theory, could be successfully replicated in other jurisdictions. The researchers employed a quasi-experimental design using time series analysis to isolate the impact of the BAT programs from other variables. Data covered the period from 1972 to 1984. Effectiveness was measured using DWI arrest data obtained from police departments, while impact was assessed using crash data from the New Mexico Transportation Department. To control for traffic exposure, crash counts were scaled against fuel sales data. The primary metric for alcohol-related crashes was "Wednesday through Saturday Night Fatal and Injury" (WSNFI) crashes, serving as a proxy for alcohol involvement. The study utilized univariate and multiple time series analyses to detect changes in arrest levels and crash frequencies coinciding with the onset of the BAT programs in Albuquerque (1979) and Santa Fe (1983). The results indicated that the BAT programs significantly increased enforcement effectiveness. In Albuquerque, DWI arrests asymptotically approached an increase of 436 per month, while Santa Fe saw an increase of 52 arrests per month. These gains represented at least a 50 percent increase in enforcement indices without a corresponding increase in officer-hours. Regarding crash impact, Albuquerque experienced a 21 percent abrupt reduction in WSNFI crashes three months after program onset, with trends suggesting a potential 69 percent reduction over time. When adjusted for fuel sales, Albuquerque saw a 5 to 7 percent reduction in crash rates. Santa Fe exhibited an abrupt, temporary 80 percent reduction in WSNFI crashes and crash rates per fuel sale, though other injury crashes in Santa Fe showed an upward trend. No significant changes were observed in non-alcohol-related crash proxies in Albuquerque, suggesting the impact was specific to alcohol-involved incidents. The study concludes that the BAT program concept is transferable to other communities, as evidenced by the replicated effectiveness and impact in both Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The programs successfully increased the certainty of apprehension, a key component of deterrence theory, leading to measurable reductions in alcohol-related crashes. The authors note that while the programs require specific police inputs and operational flexibility, their success in two distinct municipalities supports their adaptability. The findings provide empirical support for the hypothesis that increased enforcement efforts, facilitated by mobile testing technology, can effectively reduce DWI offenses and associated crash risks.
Key finding
Breath Alcohol Testing programs in Albuquerque and Santa Fe increased DWI arrests by at least 50 percent and reduced fatal and injury crashes during high-risk nights by up to 80 percent.
Methodology
field_study
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 | — | — | 19 | 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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Information type
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- Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
- Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes