Media Release

Attention: News editors/Police reporters - 31 July 2006

Deviant minority still on our roads - researchers

Persistent drink-drivers may need to be targeted for random breath tests to reinforce the ‘don’t’ drink and drive’ message, say researchers at the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC).

Although most motorists now recognise that driving while over the limit is wrong, there remains a deviant group of drivers who continue to flout the law, says a MUARC report released today.

The report , Strategic Principles of Drink Driving Enforcement, reviews existing drink-driving enforcement research and discusses how the best results are achieved.

MUARC principal research fellow Dr Max Cameron says although existing enforcement efforts have successfully contributed to reductions in casualty crashes at all severity levels, society cannot become complacent when it comes to drink-driving enforcement.

“There remains a group of drivers – generally male and often from the country ‑ who continue to drink-drive and are not influenced by publicity or exposure to random breath tests,” he says.

But the report describes how a process of “specific deterrence” rather than “general deterrence” discourages persistent offenders ‑ through the actual experience of being caught and the consequences – from re-offending.

“That specific deterrence process may be particularly effective in targeting those persistent offenders who continue to put themselves and other road users at risk,” Dr Cameron says.

Between 1996 and 2003 the annual number of bus-based breath tests ranged from about 1.1 million to almost 1.4 million – meaning at least one in three Victorian drivers was tested every year.

“But we may well need to increase the level of random breath testing to increase that general deterrence as well – random breath testing only works if there is a high enough intensity level for people to seriously believe there is a high chance they will be caught,” Dr Cameron says.

Although random breath testing began in Victoria in 1976, it was not until enforcement became intense in the late 1980s that the pay-off really began.

Dr Cameron says a complete cost-benefit analysis of the Victorian random breath testing program will mean the program’s total benefit can be estimated, which will help develop future strategies.

The report was commissioned through the centre’s Baseline Research Program, with grants from the Department of Justice, VicRoads, and the Transport Accident Commission.

The report can be found at http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/

Dr Max Cameron is available for interview on +61 3 9905 4373 or 0417 331 762 or contact MUARC Media Communications officer Allison Harding on 9905 1255 or 0419 302 520.