Drink Driving Offenders in a Rural Transport Community Methodology
Drink Driving Offenders in a rural transport Community methodology
Face-to-face interviews were used to assess knowledge, attitudinal and lifestyle factors among drink driving offenders. Offenders who participated in this study were 149 drink drivers appearing before a Central Queensland court on a drink driving charge between January and September 1997. Offenders were interviewed on the day of their court appearance in one of three courthouses located in the intervention region.
The interview schedule included measures identified in the literature as potentially contributing to recidivism. These were:
* socio-demography of the offender sample including age, gender, marital status, education, employment status, and licence type.
* hearing outcomes of the offenders drink driving court appearance – suspension periods, fines, other offences heard on the same day, and the BAC reading for the drink driving offence.
* offenders prior criminal and traffic history
* questions pertaining to knowledge, attitudes and drink driving behaviours
* alcohol consumption
* mental health status, social support and self-esteem
Normative data for the Mental Health and Social Support scales was obtained by surveying a sample of TAFE students from the Central Queensland region.
Because gender is considered to be an important variable in drink driving behaviours, all analyses were examined for gender differences.
Socio-demographic Characteristics of Rural Offenders
Drink driving offenders had a mean age of 31 years, were mostly male and single, with a greater proportion being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background than in the regional population. Few offenders were educated beyond the Year 12 standard, with the majority having only completed the junior level of education.
At the time of their interview, the majority (58%) of offenders were employed and many of these were in full-time employment.
Their income distribution was bimodal with peaks at the less than ,000 and ,001 to ,000 income levels. The majority of offenders were in the former income category, with most of those offenders being unemployed and/or on pensions. The latter income group represented the median income for offenders in paid employment.
Most offenders, at the time of their court appearance, were holders of an open licence.
The typology of the rural drink driving offender in Central Queensland is similar to typologies found in other jurisdictions. The rural Australian sample were somewhat more likely to be drawn from the older 25-34 year age group and to be unemployed and receiving a relevant pension.
Hearing Outcomes
Offenders in this study generally had high BAC readings for their current drink driving offence, with over one-third of the sample having a BAC reading above 0.15gm/100ml.
Long licence disqualification periods (mean = 8.8 months) were administered for the drink driving offence with the longest periods being administered to offenders with higher BAC readings.
Offenders who undertook the UTL program as part of their rehabilitation generally had their fine waived or reduced. As a result, fines for this group of offenders were substantially lower than the fines administered to offenders who stayed within the mainstream sentencing procedures.
Traffic and criminal history
Offenders had an extensive history of criminal and traffic offences. Many offenders at the time of their court appearance were also appearing for offences in addition to the drink driving charge, mainly unlicensed or disqualified driving. Approximately one-fifth of the total sample had been charged for drink driving at least once in the 5 years prior to their interview.
One-quarter of offenders had also been charged for criminal offences in the 5 years prior to their interview, mostly “public order” and “offence against property” crimes.
Knowledge
While knowledge of legal BACs was fairly high among offenders, especially with respect to open licensed drivers, knowledge of the number of drinks required to place an individual over this legal limit was quite low.
Inaccurate knowledge of the effects that alcohol has on the body appears quite high and indicates that inaccurate knowledge may be one contributing factor to the level of drink driving by this group.
Face-to-face interviews were used to assess knowledge, attitudinal and lifestyle factors among drink driving offenders. Offenders who participated in this study were 149 drink drivers appearing before a Central Queensland court on a drink driving charge between January and September 1997. Offenders were interviewed on the day of their court appearance in one of three courthouses located in the intervention region.
The interview schedule included measures identified in the literature as potentially contributing to