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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE EVALUATION OF THE 2003/2004 FESTIVE DRINK DRIVE CAMPAIGN
CHAPTER FIVE: DRINKING & DRIVING: BEHAVIOUR
5.1 The quantitative assessment of drinking and driving behaviour revealed that around a third (31%) of respondents have driven once / twice or occasionally within a few hours of having a drink. Only a small minority (3%) have done this fairly often and a majority (66%) never have. (See Figure 5.1).
5.2 Figure 5.2 shows, amongst respondents who reported ever having driven after drinking, around 17% indicated the time elapsed between their last drink and driving was less than half an hour, and 20% indicated it was between half an hour and one hour. Amongst other respondents who had driven and consumed a drink before driving, the time elapsed was variable. Around a third of respondents had waited between 1-2 hours before driving, whilst lower proportions had waited longer than this; 19% between 3 and 4 hours and a minority more than four hours.
5.3 Given the campaigns objectives it was imperative to determine the respondents behaviour in relation to drinking and driving when they perceived themselves to be over the limit. Those who had ever had something to drink then driven were asked how often in this situation they perceived themselves to have been over the legal limit. As shown in Figure 5.3 around half (52%) reported they had done this either once / twice or occasionally. Only a minority had thought it had occurred fairly often (2%) or very often (1%). Almost two fifths (40%) claimed they had never been over the legal limit. In terms of the total sample, the number of people who have driven when perceived to be over the legal limit represents 18% of the sample as a whole.
5.4 In potential situations of being over the limit, a higher proportion indicated the time elapsed before driving was more than four hours (Figure 5.4) compared to situations not over the limit (see previous Figure 5.2).
5.5 Gender differences were also apparent. Of those who had ever driven after drinking, men were more likely to believe they had driven when over the limit; 64% of men versus 39% of women. Also amongst men who had ever driven when over the limit, 17-29 year olds showed more of a predisposition towards this behaviour with a majority (69%) indicating they had taken the car when potentially over the limit. In stark contrast, the majority (72%) of 17 - 29 year old women claimed they had never driven after a drink.
5.6 Evidence that people were drinking and driving over the festive period in 2003/2004 was also reported by the police. Specifically, 770 drivers were charged compared to 750 drivers in the same period in the previous year. Also identified was an increase by almost a third of the number of women caught drinking and driving.
5.7 Included in the content of the 'Don't risk it' campaign was the fact that a drink driver could be reported by a member of the public via the Crimestoppers hotline. Attitudes to reporting someone are discussed in a subsequent chapter of this report.
5.8 However on a similar vein, the perceived likelihood of not being caught did not appear to predispose people to taking a chance on drinking and driving. The majority (92%) disagreed with the statement 'I would risk drinking and driving if I thought it was unlikely that I would be caught'.
5.9 Men once again were the group more likely to adopt what would be seen to be unacceptable behaviour; 7% of men as opposed to 2% of women would risk drinking and driving if they thought they would not be caught.
5.10 Drink driving behaviour was also explored in the qualitative phase of the research. In contrast to the quantitative results there was a fairly strong opinion that people who drink and drive do so because of the belief that they won't be caught. It is worth noting that in this phase those respondents who had been caught drinking and driving or had been banned claimed they would never again drink and drive.
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