Analysis of Contributory Factors for Drinking and Driving: A Stated Choice Approach

Traffic accidents caused by drunk driving have drawn considerable attention from the general public because of the high accident risk and high risk of severe injury. During 2007 in Taiwan, there were 9,881 alcohol-related accidents which result in 395 people lost their life and 7,592 people injured. To reduce the number of drunk and driving accidents, traffic authorities have put lots of efforts to prevent people from drinking and driving including lowering the legal limit for drinking and driving, increasing the punishment for the offender, and increasing intensity of police enforcement. However, the number of alcohol-related accidents has reduced only slightly. Therefore, this study adopts stated choice experiment approach to explore the contributory factors and circumstances for drinking and driving. The results indicate that the time, level of impairment, police enforcement, driver's drinking habit and the knowledge of drinking and driving regulations can significantly affect drivers' choice of driving after they drink.