Open AccessEffectiveness of Bans and Laws in Reducing Traffic Deaths
Author(s) -
Garnett P. McMillan,
Sandra C. Lapham
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2005.069153
Subject(s) - environmental health , crash , alcohol , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , poison control , suicide prevention , motor vehicle crash , public health , human factors and ergonomics , medicine , business , law , forensic engineering , political science , engineering , computer science , biochemistry , chemistry , nursing , programming language
We determined the relative risk of alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents and fatalities after New Mexico lifted its ban on Sunday packaged alcohol sales. We extracted all alcohol-related crashes from New Mexico police reports for 3652 days between July 1, 1990, and June 30, 2000, and found a 29% increase in alcohol-related crashes and a 42% increase in alcohol-related crash fatalities on Sundays after the ban on Sunday packaged alcohol sales was lifted. There was an estimated excess of 543.1 alcohol-related crashes and 41.6 alcohol-related crash fatalities on Sundays after the ban was lifted. Repealing the ban on Sunday packaged alcohol sales introduced a public health and safety hazard in New Mexico.