NCJ Number
131995
Journal
Alcohol, Drugs and Driving Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Dated: (April-June 1991) Pages: 117-127
Date Published
1991
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This report examines the effects of Maine's law to lower the legal BAC limit for adolescents to .02 and explores the aggregate impact of the laws that lowered legal BAC limits for young people in all the states that passed those laws prior to 1989 (Maine, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Wisconsin).
Abstract
Adolescent and adult night fatal crash trends were compared in these states and four nearby states with similar drinking age laws which did not lower BAC levels for teen drivers. Night fatal crashes among adolescents in Maine were 38 percent lower in the post-law period than they had been in the pre-law period. In the four states that lowered their BAC levels for teens, there was a 34-percent post-law decline in night fatal crashes among adolescents targeted by lower BAC levels and a 7-percent decline in night fatal crashes among adults. There was a 26-percent decline in night fatal crashes in comparison states and a 9-percent decline in adult night fatal crashes. As a group, states that lowered their BAC levels for adolescents had significantly greater post-law reductions in night fatal crashes among adolescents relative to adults than was observed in comparison states. The available evidence suggests this law may help to reduce adolescent involvement in alcohol-related fatal crashes. 6 figures, 3 tables, and 15 references (Author abstract modified)