V.  RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Connecticut Telephone Survey

C. Perceptions of Enforcement

The proportion of telephone survey respondents indicating that State Police “very strictly” enforce the drinking and driving laws increased significantly compared to the other response options combined after both the July 4th holiday enforcement period (χ²(1)=10.21, p=.001) and the winter 2003 holiday enforcement period (χ²(1)=10.29, p=.001).  Respondents also indicated that local police “very strictly” enforce the drinking and driving laws significantly more often compared to the other response options combined after both the July 4th (χ² (1)=3.94, p<.05) and winter
(χ²(1)=11.54, p=.001) holiday periods compared to the period before each holiday.  Results for both questions are presented in Table 10.

Table 10.  Connecticut Telephone Survey Q14 and Q15: Public Perception of the Strictness of Local and State Police Enforcement of Drinking and Driving Laws

The perceptions of men 21 to 34 years old of State Police “very strictly” enforcing the laws against drinking and driving compared to all the other response options combined increased after both the July 4th holiday period and after the winter holiday period.  However, neither the 2.8-percent increase after the July 4th holiday enforcement period (χ ²(1)=.086, p=.794) nor the 8.4-percent increase after the winter 2003 holiday enforcement period were statistically significant (χ ²(1)=.731, p=.393).  The number of men 21 to 34 years old indicating that local police “very strictly” enforced the drinking and driving laws decreased compared to all the other responses combined after the July 4th holiday enforcement period and increased after the winter holiday enforcement period compared to those asked before the winter holiday period began.  However, the 13-percent increase after the winter holiday period was not statistically significant (χ ²(1)=1.74, p=.187).  Men 21 to 34 years old had a higher general perception about the strictness of both local and State Police enforcement of the drinking and driving laws across surveys compared to the general group of survey respondents.  The relatively few men 21 to 34 responding to the survey combined with the relatively high baseline perception of the strictness of enforcement required a larger increase in perceptions to reach statistical significance.  Both results are presented in Table 11.

Table 11.  Connecticut Telephone Survey Responses of Men 21 to 34 for Q14 and Q15: Public Perception of the Strictness of Local and State Police Enforcement of Drinking and Driving Laws

There was a significant increase in the proportion of drivers indicating that they saw police on the roads they normally drove more often compared to the other two options combined after the July 4th holiday crackdown
(χ ²(1)=4.211, p=.040) and after the winter holiday crackdown (χ ²(1)=4.850, p=.028).  The results are presented in Table 12.  The increase in the perception that police are on the roads more often is consistent with the increase in the proportion of respondents reporting that they thought State and local police were very strict in enforcing the drinking and driving laws.   

Table 12.  Connecticut Telephone Survey Q13: Public Perception of Police Presence on the Road

For men 21 to 34 years old, there were increases in the proportion of drivers indicating that they saw police on the roads they normally drove more often compared to the other two options combined after the July 4th holiday crackdown (χ ²(1)=2.299, p=.129) and after the winter holiday crackdown (χ ²(1)=.349, p=.554), but neither was statistically significant.  Results are reported in Table 13.

Table 13.  Connecticut Telephone Survey Responses of Men 21 to 34 for Q13:
Public Perception of Police Presence on the Road

Telephone respondents who indicated that in the past 30 days they had driven a motor vehicle after drinking alcohol beverages were asked to indicate how likely it was for someone who had too much to drink to drive safely to be stopped by police.  The results are reported in Table 14 below.  As shown in the table, there were few respondents who indicated that they had driven a motor vehicle after drinking an alcoholic beverage and there was no statistically significant change between administrations of the telephone survey in the proportion of respondents who reported drinking and driving who indicated that someone would “almost certainly” be stopped if they drank too much to drive safely.

There were too few men 21 to 34 years old who responded to the question (ranging from 4 responses in July 4th pre-survey to a high of 9 responses in the winter pre-survey) to ascertain their perceptions of the risks of being stopped if they drove after drinking too much to drive safely.

Table 14. Connecticut Telephone Survey Q8: Perceived Likelihood of Being Stopped
if You Drove After Drinking Too Much to Drive Safely

When all telephone survey respondents were asked about the chances of being stopped if a driver had been drinking, there was a significant increase in the proportion of drivers indicating that it was more likely compared to the other options combined after both the July 4th (χ ²(1)=7.683, p<.01) and winter 2003 (χ ²(1)=13.548, p<.001) holiday periods.  The overall increase from the first to last survey was significant as well (χ ²(1)=11.174, p<.001).  Overall, the campaign resulted in a significant increase in the proportion of drivers reporting that their perception of the chances of a drinking driver being stopped by police had increased.  The results are presented in Table 15. 

Table 15. Connecticut Telephone Survey Q9: Perceived Likelihood of a Driver Being Stopped by Police if the Driver Had Been Drinking

Among men 21 to 34 years old, there was a 3-percent increase after the July 4th (χ ²(1)=074, p=.786) holiday period and a 14.3-percent increase after the winter 2003 holiday period (χ ²(1)=1.92, p=.166) in the number of respondents indicating that they thought a driver who had been drinking was more likely to be stopped by police than the other responses combined.  Neither increase was statistically significant.  Thus, the perception of a drinking driver being stopped by police increased, but that increase did not reach statistical significance.  Table 16 presents these results.

Table 16. Connecticut Telephone Survey Responses of Men 21 to 34 for Q9: Perceived Likelihood of a Driver Being Stopped by Police if the Driver Had Been Drinking