Deterring Drunk Driving Fatalities: An Economics of Crime Perspective

Econometric studies of public policies that might deter driving-under-the-influence (DUI) offenses generally adopt, either explicitly or implicitly, the basic framework provided in Becker's (1968) expected utility model of crime behavior. Yet many of the DUI studies suggest that neither the probability of conviction nor the severity of punishment are effective deterrents to drunk driving. In fact, the variables which tend to have the strongest deterrent effects in econometric studies of crime are not estimated in most DUI studies.