Public Support for Drunk-Driving Countermeasures: Social Policy for Saving Lives

Abstract

In recent years, calls have gone out for increased certainty and severity of criminal punishment as a means to reduce or control drunk driving. A number of scholars, however, have suggested that alternative policies, which address drunk driving as a public health issue rooted in social institutions, would be more effective in reducing the prevalence of and damage done by drinking drivers. The question remains as to what approaches the public will support. Based on a community survey, this study found that the public endorsed reducing drunk driving through legal deterrence and rehabilitation, but that citizens also were willing to support several socially based interventions.