Transportation Expertise

Alcohol and Driving

UMTRI researchers are committed to discovering factors that influence alcohol and driving. They develop and evaluate programs to prevent drinking and driving, evaluate alcohol and driving policies, and provide technical support to communities. Researchers are experienced in examining the association between the psychosocial characteristics of drivers and driving behavior using theory-based research techniques. This research often uses longitudinal research methods and allows the examination of the interplay between individual characteristics and driving behavior over time. The results of this research have provided substantial insight into high-risk driving behaviors that can be used to guide the development and deployment of interventions and policy.

Research at UMTRI examines various aspects of high-risk drinking behavior, including drink/driving, episodic heavy drinking, and drinking-related violence. Researchers use their knowledge of high-risk alcohol use to design and deliver interventions, including computerized interventions for teens and adults coming to the emergency department for treatment and web-based, tailored interventions to reduce high-risk alcohol use, including drink/driving among college students.

UMTRI also has extensive experience examining the effects of policy and adjudication practices on drunk driving behavior. Research covers all aspects of policy implementation, including examination of alcohol-related crashes and citations before and after implementation of specific policy, surveys of stakeholders potentially affected by the policy requirements, case studies, and determination of how policy is implemented.

Selected projects in this area:

Tailored Web Program to Reduce At-Risk College Drinking
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Investigators: C. Raymond Bingham, Jean T. Shope
01/01/2006 - 12/31/2010

Tailored Teen Alcohol and Violence Prevention in the ER (PI: Maureen Walton)
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Investigators: Jean T. Shope, C. Raymond Bingham
03/01/2005 - 02/28/2010

Alcohol-Related Risk Behavior: Adolescent to Young Adult
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health
Investigators: Jean T. Shope, C. Raymond Bingham
07/01/2002 - 06/30/2008

Alcohol-Impaired Driving Crackdowns
Sponsor: Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Investigator: Lidia P. Kostyniuk
08/06/2007 - 04/05/2009