Article
Have drivers at alcohol outlets changed their behavior after the new traffic law?
Registro en:
DE BONI, Raquel Brandini et al. Have drivers at alcohol outlets changed their behavior after the new traffic law? Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, v.36, n. 1, p. 11-15, 2014.
1516-4446
10.1590/1516-4446-2013-1131
1809-452X
Autor
De Boni, Raquel Brandini
Pechansky, Flavio
Vasconcellos, Mauricio T.
Bastos, Francisco Inácio Pinkusfeld Monteiro
Resumen
De Boni, Raquel Brandini. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Nacional de Infectologia Evandro Chagas. Documento produzido em parceria ou por autor vinculado à Fiocruz, mas não consta à informação no documento. Secretaria Nacional de Políticas sobre Drogas - SENAD, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - FAPERJ, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq. Objective: In an attempt to reduce high levels of traffic crashes, a new legislation was approved in Brazil in 2008. This study aimed to assess behavioral change among drivers who had drunk at alcohol outlets (AO) after implementation of the law. Method: A three-stage probability sampling survey was conducted in Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Individuals seen leaving AOs after drinking were approached (n=3,018). Selected drivers (n=683) answered a structured interview, were breathalyzed, and had saliva specimens collected for drug screening. Results: Overall, 60.3% (SE 4.5) of drivers reported they did not change their behavior. Among those who reported behavioral changes, most reported drinking less as their main strategy toward safer
driving behavior. Variables independently associated with behavior change included having drunk at a high outlet density area (odds ratio [OR] 1.7 [1.1-2.8]) and having a favorable opinion about the law (OR 4.3 [2.1-8.9]). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that awareness of the law has not been enough to promote behavioral change. As most drivers had a favorable opinion of the law and this variable was found to be the strongest predictor of behavior change, efforts to better integrate education and enforcement seem to be pivotal and might be well received by the population.