Vehicle Impoundment Research Articles

Controlling Impaired Driving Through Vehicle Programs: An Overview

The growing recognition of the problem presented by illicit vehicle operation by those whose license has been suspended for driving while intoxicated (DWI) has led to the increasing use of vehicle sanctions. These sanctions include vehicle impoundment and forfeiture, vehicle registration cancellation, and vehicle interlocks as penalties for DWI and driving while suspended (DWS). This article reviews the current information available on the use and effectiveness of vehicle sanctions for reducing offender recidivism. In the United States, 14 states have impoundment laws that are widely used as sanctions for both DWI and DWS, with the length of the impoundment increasing with the number of previous offenses. These laws have been shown to reduce recidivism while the vehicle is in custody and, to a lesser extent, even after the vehicle has been released. Vehicle impoundment is also widely used in Canada and New Zealand. Although a larger number of U.S. states have laws providing for vehicle forfeiture for DWI or DWS, this sanction tends to be limited to multiple offenders and therefore impacts fewer drivers. Cancellation of the vehicle registration and the confiscation of the vehicle plates are increasing in popularity because the vehicle tags are the property of the state, rather than the vehicle owner. Vehicle alcohol interlocks have proven to be an effective method for reducing DWI offender recidivism while they are on the car, but appear to produce only limited post-treatment behavior change. Interlocks are widely used in the United States and Canada and are beginning to be implemented in Europe and Australia. The issues that arise in implementing vehicle sanction programs are discussed and the actions taken by states to deal with them are described.

Forfeiture programs in California: Why so few?

Problem: It is estimated that at least 75% of suspended or revoked drivers continue to drive illegally. In states like California, there are also a substantial and growing number of people who drive without ever having been licensed. Some states, such as Ohio and California, have enacted vehicle impoundment and forfeiture programs as sanctions to reduce these offenses. Published evaluations indicate that vehicle impoundment laws reduce recidivism and crash rates. However, vehicle forfeiture programs have been less successful, mostly because of low levels of enforcement. Method: Police officers and district attorneys from 17 jurisdictions were interviewed by phone or in person to determine current enforcement levels and impediments to more aggressive application of statutory authority. Results and discussion: The survey found that most California jurisdictions are enforcing vehicle impoundments for first-time offenders. However, very few jurisdictions were enforcing the vehicle forfeiture law for repeat offenders. Among the reasons for not enforcing the vehicle forfeiture law was a perception that it was too time-consuming and/or not a priority among prosecutors. However, a number of authorities indicated that the simple vehicle impoundment procedure is often functionally equivalent to forfeiture because many drivers fail to retrieve the vehicle at the end of the impoundment period. Impact on industry: Vehicle impoundment programs are effective mechanisms in deterring illicit driving, and states should be encouraged to initiate vehicle impoundment laws. States could achieve even greater safety benefits if vehicle forfeiture sanctions were extensively used for repeat offenders. However, based on California's experience, the incremental benefits of vehicle forfeiture (over vehicle impoundment) may not be very great.

Vehicle action: effective policy for controlling drunk and other high-risk drivers?

License suspension effectively reduces recidivism and crash involvement of those convicted of driving while impaired (DWI). The impact of this sanction, however, is being reduced by the large number of offenders (up to 75%) who drive even though suspended. To deal with this problem, several states have enacted laws providing for vehicle impoundment, immobilization, or forfeiture for repeat DWI offenders and for driving while suspended (DWS) offenders. Although a 1992 review of vehicle sanctions for DWI and DWS offenders showed 32 states with such laws, they were infrequently applied. Further, none of those laws had been adequately evaluated. This paper reviews the studies of vehicle action programs in California, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington that have been applied broadly enough to permit evaluation. Although none of the studies has applied random assignment to ensure equal groups, several have applied sufficient statistical controls to provide reasonably credible results. All the programs reviewed showed positive effects, including some relatively large recidivism reductions, from denying offenders the use of their vehicles for 1–6 months. Highlighted in this review are several issues that appear to be important to the effectiveness of vehicle sanctioning programs.

The Meaning of the Purchase

Feminists and other scholars have debated theoretically what exactly is being purchased in the prostitution transaction and whether sex can be `a service like any other', but they have scarcely tackled these questions empirically. This article draws upon field observations of and interviews with male clients of commercial sex-workers and state agents entrusted with regulating them to probe the meanings given to different types of commercial sexual exchange. Manifested by client arrests and re-education, vehicle impoundment, stricter laws on underage prostitution and the possession of child pornography, recent state efforts to problematize male sexuality throughout the USA and Western Europe have been developed alongside an increasingly unbridled ethic of sexual consumption, as evidenced by soaring demand for pornography, strip clubs, lap-dancing, escorts, telephone sex and `sex tours' in developing countries. By situating commercial sexual exchange within the broader context of post-industrial transformations of culture and sexuality, we can begin to unravel this paradox.

An Evaluation of the General Deterrent Effect of Vehicle Impoundment on Suspended and Revoked Drivers in California

This study used interrupted time series analysis to evaluate whether implementing a law in California allowing peace officers to impound/forfeit vehicles operated by drivers with suspended/revoked driver licenses was associated with changes in the crash rates among such drivers. The effects of the impoundment/forfeiture laws on crashes for suspended/revoked drivers were examined using crashes among validly licensed drivers as a control. While statistically significant intervention effects were found for suspended/revoked drivers, significant effects were also discovered for validly licensed drivers. Models examining crashes for suspended/revoked drivers that statistically controlled the effects of crashes for validly licensed drivers found only borderline statistically significant results. Thus, this study found no evidence that simply threatening to impound/forfeit the vehicles of suspended/revoked drivers affected their crash rates. This contrasts to a previous study, which showed that actually impounding the vehicles of such drivers substantially lowered their rates of subsequent crashes and traffic convictions.

An evaluation of the specific deterrent effects of vehicle impoundment on suspended, revoked, and unlicensed drivers in California

There have been a number of studies conducted during the past two decades that convincingly demonstrate that license suspension and revocation are some of the most effective countermeasures currently available for attenuating the traffic safety risk of problem drivers. At the same time, it is also known that most suspended/revoked (S/R) drivers violate their illegal driving status and continue to drive, accruing traffic convictions and becoming involved in crashes. In an attempt to strengthen license actions and to better control S/R and unlicensed drivers, California enacted two laws effective January 1995 which provide for the impoundment and forfeiture of vehicles driven by S/R and unlicensed drivers. The study described in this paper evaluates the impact of vehicle impoundment on the 1-year subsequent driving behavior of S/R and unlicensed drivers who experience this sanction. The results show that drivers with no prior convictions for driving while S/R or unlicensed whose vehicles were impounded have, relative to similar drivers whose vehicles were not impounded: 23.8% fewer driving while suspended/revoked or unlicensed convictions; 18.1% fewer traffic convictions; and 24.7% fewer crashes. The differences between the impound and no-impound groups are even larger when the driving records of repeat offenders (i.e. drivers with prior driving-while-S/R or unlicensed convictions) are examined. Repeat offenders whose vehicles are impounded have 34.2% fewer driving-while-S/R or unlicensed convictions, 22.3% fewer traffic convictions and 37.6% fewer crashes. These findings provide strong support for impounding vehicles driven by S/R and unlicensed drivers.

Temporary vehicle impoundment in Ohio: a replication and confirmation

Driving while suspended by individuals who have been convicted of an impaired driving offense is a significant highway safety problem. Such offenders present four times the risk of involvement in a fatal crash at a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over 0.10. A previous report by the authors demonstrated that a vehicle immobilization program in Franklin County (Columbus), Ohio, significantly reduced driving-under-the-influence (DUI) recidivism rates for multiple DUI offenders. This study evaluated a somewhat different application of the same law in Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Ohio, where vehicles were impounded rather than immobilized, and obtained similar results—a reduction in repeat DUI offenses by multiple offenders both while their vehicles were being held by the police and after they were returned to the offenders.