United States Department of Transportation
i
Zero Tolerance Laws for Youth: Four States’ Experience
-
2000-06-01
[PDF-5.05 MB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
DOI:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Edition:Final report
-
Contracting Officer:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:This report summarizes a study of zero tolerance drinking driving laws for youth in four states. These laws prohibit driving by persons under 21 at a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) over .00, .01 or .02 (depending on the state) in contrast to the levels set for adults at .08 or .10. The states studied were Florida, Maine, Texas and Oregon. Two of the states, Maine and Oregon, adopted such laws in the early 1980s and modified them in the mid-1990s to make them more stringent. Texas and Florida adopted their zero tolerance laws in the late 1990s. A review of the process of implementing the laws indicates that administrative license suspension for zero tolerance violations can be handled fairly expeditiously through the mechanisms set up for administrative suspensions for adults. Barriers to aggressive enforcement of the law tend to be associated with lack of familiarity with the law which can be overcome through training and word of mouth among law enforcement officers. The laws seem to be most effective in the states which have had such laws for the longer periods of time. Nighttime single vehicle injury crashes were reduced by as much as 40% and 36% in Oregon and Maine about the time the laws were made more stringent to as little as 5% in Florida and not at all in Texas where the laws were more recently adopted and enforcement levels are still on the rise. /Abstract from report summary page/
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
