Driver's License Files Research Articles

DWI/DWAI offenders and recidivism by gender in the eighties: a changing trend?

The study is based on a systematic random sample from the New York State's Driver License File, which contains 15,032 drivers who were convicted of DWI/DWAI at least once in the period of 1978 to 1988. The analysis reveals (1) the proportion of male offenders 20 and younger continued to decrease through the 1980s, while the proportion of female offenders 21 and older increased; and (2) the female DWI/DWAI recidivism rate began to parallel the male recidivism rate after the mid-1980s. A number of factors may be attributed to the changing DWI/DWAI structure, such as the impact of the 21 alcohol purchase age law, the change of women's roles and lifestyles, and the changing attitudes of the public and the police toward female drinking-driving.

Calculating Dwi/Dwai Recidivism with Limited Data: Using State Driver License File for Drinking and Driving Research

One major research issue in drinking-driving is the volume of DWI/DWAI recidivism in a political unit during a given period of time. This article addresses a methodological issue: How can limited data from the official driver license file be used to calculate drinking-driving recidivism rates? New York State maintains one of the most comprehensive driver license files in the nation, but a dynamic process purges records on the file that are more than ten years old. The magnitude of the recidivism rate calculated from this file, thus, is influenced by the number of data points included: the more years of data included, the higher the rate. We used OLS to examine the impact of the dimension of the data on the recidivism rate and mathematically extended the file to the point where the impact of the data dimension is minimum. We, then, calculated the New York State DWI/DWAI recidivism with an "extended dimension."

Breast Cancer Risk and Oral Contraceptive Use

The association between oral contraceptive use and breast cancer risk was examined using data from a case-control study of breast cancer in Long Island, New York. Cases were defined as female residents of Nassau and Suffolk Counties between the ages of 20 and 79, diagnosed with breast cancer between January 1, 1984 and December 31, 1986. Age- and county-matched controls were selected from driver's license files. Among all women under age 70 at diagnosis, there was no association between oral contraceptive use and breast cancer; there was, however, a positive association in the subgroup ages 20-49 (adjusted odds ratio = 1.68, 95% CI: 1.16-2.42). Risk increased with increasing duration of use, but did not differ between women who first used oral contraceptives before the first pregnancy and those who first used them later, or between women who first used oral contraceptives before age 25 and those who first used them at a later age. Risk also appeared to increase with number of years of use before the first pregnancy or before age 25, although numbers were small. History of benign breast disease did not influence risk. The association of breast cancer risk with oral contraceptive use appeared stronger in women from Suffolk County than Nassau County.

An Epidemiological Case-Control Study of Breast Cancer and Alcohol Consumption

A case-control study of breast cancer and alcohol consumption was conducted with 1617 patients diagnosed with a primary cancer of the breast between 1982 and 1984 in 18 New York State counties. For each case, one control, matched for year of birth and county of residence, was selected from the driver's license files of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Breast cancer risk was shown to increase as daily consumption of alcohol increased, with a risk of 1.37 (95% Cl = 1.07, 1.75) observed among women who consumed 15 or more grams of alcohol per day. Breast cancer risk did not appear to be related to the total number of years a woman drank or to be restricted to specific types of alcoholic beverages. The data suggest that this may be higher in women who began drinking at a later age. The increased risk associated with alcohol consumption, observed in the current study, persisted within strata of various breast cancer risk factors.

The relationship of seat belt non-use to personality, lifestyle and driving record

This study investigated the hypothesis that non-use of seat belts may be related to other indices of problem behavior such as substance use, personality, irresponsible attitudes, and a greater driving risk. Three levels of seat belt use were defined based on self-reported use over the last 10 car trips: non-use, inconsistent use, and always use. Three age- and sex-matched samples of drivers were studied, randomly selected from Ontario driver license files: convicted impaired drivers, high accident or demerit point drivers, and a control sample. Within samples, the 3 levels of seat belt user were compared on a wide range of self-report measures and driver record variables. Although some differences were noted, results were generally consistent across samples. Seat belt non-users were younger, less educated, more likely male, and unmarried. Controlling for these demographic differences, non-users were higher sensation seekers, more impulsive, consumed more alcohol and other drugs, and accumulated more traffic violations. Non-user controls also had higher accident frequencies. Inconsistent users more closely resembled non-users than always users. Results suggest that targeted intervention strategies may be necessary for committed non-users of seat belts. These include modified enforcement practices and attempts to change attitudes through education.

Sarcomas of Soft Tissues After Vietnam Service

Vietnam service and military service experiences of 281 men with sarcomas of soft tissues were compared in this epidemiologic study to a control group of men derived from driver's license files and matched on 5-year period of birth and ZIP code of residence. No direct association was found for service in Vietnam (odds ratio, 0.53; confidence limits, 0.21-1.31) or for any military service (odds ratio, 0.53; confidence limits, 0.37-0.76). A multivariate matched logistic regression analysis showed similar results for Vietnam service while controlling for military service. Results also were similar when the 130 cases who had died were compared to a second control group derived from death certificates. Finally, no significant associations were found for "Agent Orange" or other variables that might be related to herbicide exposure.

Do accident-involved drivers exhibit riskier everyday driving behavior?

For more than forty years researchers have tried to relate traffic accident involvement to how an individual normally drives. Such efforts have not hitherto discovered clear effects. This study establishes statistically significant relations between prior involvement in accidents and an observed characteristic of every day driving. The observed driving characteristic is following headway in high flow freeway traffic, defined as the time interval between a vehicle and the preceding vehicle in the same lane. This headway is interpreted as a measure of driver risk. It is found that accident-involved drivers are more likely to follow with short headways (less than 1 s) than accident-free drivers. A similar effect is found in comparing drivers with and without traffic violations. Records of accident involvement and traffic violations were obtained (with the cooperation of the Michigan Department of State) for 2576 unidentified drivers observed travelling on a local freeway in high flow afternoon rush hour traffic. The observational data consisted of a measure of the headway and a photograph of each vehicle from which the license plate number was read. In most cases the license plate number provided the driver license number of the registered owner. Cases were excluded if the sex and age of the driver observed in the photograph did not match the owner information. The traffic violation and accident records available from the driver license file were used to examine following headway as a function of driver record. Based on their observed closer following in freeway traffic it is concluded that accident-involved drivers and drivers cited for violations exhibit higher levels of risk in everyday driving than accident-free and citation-free drivers.