Key strategic issues with rural drink drive enforcement

Rural drink driving is a serious road safety issue which contributes to a significant number of fatalities and injuries in New Zealand annually. Although enforcement remains a key mechanism for reducing the incidence of rural drink driving, there are a number of crucial strategic issues that influence its effectiveness, including: who should conduct the enforcement, resource availability, enforcement predictability and visibility, issues around detection vs. deterrence and long term vs. short term deterrence, the word of mouth (WOM) effect, and the avoidance of enforcement activity. Utilising international literature, interview data, and fieldwork, this paper examines some of the main strategic issues relating to rural drink drive enforcement in New Zealand, and concludes that in order for this enforcement to be effective, these issues need to be seriously considered.