Prabhakar Dhungana Ming Qu Nebraska Health and Human Services System

Nebraska CODES Introduction Motor vehicle crashes are among the leading cause of death and injuries in Nebraska Motor vehicle crashes pose the greatest threat to the lives of American teens Alcohol is one of the major causes of motor vehicle crashes among underage drivers (14-20)

Nebraska CODES Definition Underage Driver: years old driver Alcohol Impaired Driver: Driver impaired by alcohol according to law enforcement report Crashes Involving Underage Drivers: Crash involving at least one underage driver. Alcohol Involved Crash: Crash involving at least one alcohol impaired driver.

Nebraska CODES Purpose of Study Establish baseline information on underage drinking and driving in Nebraska Examine the consequences of crashes involving underage alcohol impaired drivers Explore the characteristics and corresponding factors

Nebraska CODES Method Nebraska CODES data ( ) Linked motor vehicle crash, emergency medical services, hospital inpatient and outpatient, and death certificate records

Nebraska CODES

Method… comparison Crash outcomes –Crash severity (fatal, injury and property damage) –Injury rate (%) –Fatality rate –Hospital charges Crash pattern –Day of the week (weekdays vs. weekend) –Time of day (day vs. night) –Type of crash (single vs. multiple vehicles)

Nebraska CODES Limitation Underreporting of alcohol involvement – only drivers involved in fatal and some severe crashes are required to have an alcohol test. The study is based on only those drivers who were involved in crashes.

Results

Nebraska CODES N=293,849

Nebraska CODES

N=170,669

Nebraska CODES

FatalInjuryProperty damage only

Nebraska CODES

Average inpatient hospital charges by alcohol involvement

Nebraska CODES Alcohol not impaired (66,387) Alcohol impaired (1,612)

Nebraska CODES Alcohol not impaired (N=61,782) Alcohol impaired (N=1,334)

Nebraska CODES

Acohol not involved

Nebraska CODES Summary 23% of total drivers involved in crashes were underage (14-20) drivers. 2.4% of these were alcohol impaired Fatal and injury crashes were more likely to occur when underage alcohol impaired drivers were involved

Nebraska CODES Summary…. For those crashes involving underage alcohol, the injury rate, fatality rate and hospital charges were higher than that for alcohol not involved crashes. Most of the crashes involving underage alcohol impaired drivers occurred at late night and early morning hours Most of the underage alcohol impaired drivers were males

Nebraska CODES Summary…. 56% of underage alcohol impaired drivers involved in crashes did not use safety belts compared to 22% of alcohol unimpaired drivers Of those crashes involving underage alcohol impaired drivers, 72% were single vehicle crashes. 40% of these were speeding related

Nebraska CODES Recommendation Education and awareness program –Education about dangers of drinking and driving at schools –community awareness program Laws and policies –continuation and enforcement of zero tolerance law –strong and effective measures to obey the law prohibiting alcohol sales to minor

Nebraska CODES Recommendation……. –Sobriety check points random or selective breath testing (R/SBT) check points at late night and early morning hours increasing publicity of checkpoints increasing visibility of checkpoint operation –expanding graduate/ restricted licensing system –combining “primary” safety belt use law( where police can stop drivers for not wearing seatbelts) and underage drinking and driving law

Nebraska CODES

Alcohol involved Alcohol not involved

Nebraska CODES

Acknowledgement NHTSA Nebraska Office of Highway Safety Nebraska CODES Advisory Committee