Research studies have indicated that drinking and driving is the major cause of major accidents on roads worldwide. Alcohol acts to impair an individual’s driving skills and to a greater extent increases the chances of an accident occurring. The risk of having an accident increases exponentially when one drives under the influence of alcohol. In Europe alone, drunken driving cases contribute to over ten thousand deaths every year. Of all the accident fatalities in the United States, drunk driving constitutes to about thirty-one percent. On the other side, in China, over thirty-four percent of road accidents are alcohol-related. These figures reveal the true nature of drunken driving situation across the world.
It has been established that even with small amounts of alcohol intake, the probability of drivers causing accidents is increased. Further, drunken drivers are more likely to cause accidents compared to sober drivers. In this manner, countries have tried putting in place measures aimed at regulating drunk driving for a period of time. The most common method most countries have applied in reducing this vice is through conducting periodical preventive checks on the roads to determine which drivers are under the influence of alcohol (Erickson et al., 2013). Traffic officers are in this sense instructed to use technologies which can detect the alcohol levels in the blood of drivers and then imposing fines appropriately. This method has been proved to be effective since drivers tend to comply by not attempting to drive under the influence of alcohol to avoid the impending fines therein.
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Even with the tough drunk driving laws, most drivers tend to go against all odds and still drive under the influence of alcohol. This means that, against all measures, we are certain that drinking-driving cannot completely be eliminated. It should, however, be noted that alcohol affects the driver’s vigilance, cognition, reaction, and judgment. In the long run, a general decline in the driver’s performance is realized over time due to drunk driving.
Research question ; What effect does conducting preventive alcohol checks have on the number of people who drive after drinking?
Why this is important in psychology
Studies around the aspect of drinking and driving have been conducted over time to at least get an understanding of why drivers would want to drive while at the same time they under the influence of alcohol. These studies also aim at pointing out the need to have individuals made to understand the effects of driving while drunk. As part of psychological studies, this research will explain so much in regards to the behaviors and other factors leading to or prompting one to drive under the influence. Understanding such phenomenon will allow more research geared towards finding solutions to the menace affecting drivers on roads across the world.
Hypothesis
In this context, there is a speculation based on evidence indicating that there is a relationship existing therein between having preventive checks and the number of people who drink and drive.
Null hypothesis ( H 0 ) there is no statistically significant relationship between preventive alcohol checks and the number of people who drink and drive.
Alternative hypothesis (H 1 ) there is indeed a statistically significant relationship between conducting preventive alcohol checks and the number of people who drink and drive.
In as much as there have been researches regarding alcohol impairment, a small proportion of these researches have given a detailed explanation as of the characteristics of impairment and driving performance at the different BAC levels. In addition, few research studies have aimed at discriminating the aspect of drinking and driving based on driving performance. In one way or the other, discriminating driving performance which is a non-contact method could actually have a greater potential of application in various research studies. To summarize the effect of alcohol on drivers and their driving performance, a number of drivers were recruited with an aim of conducting simulation driving experiment at different simulation levels and having preventive alcohol checks therein as well (Li, Xie, Nie, & Zhang, 2012). This research study would mainly focus on the driving performance on urban roads preferably the straight roadway segments dotted with preventive alcohol checks at various points as this is the most common in driving processes.
The statistical test which will be applied in this research study is a correlational test. This statistical tool seeks to measure the relationship therein between two or more variables (Zhao, Zhang, & Rong, 2014). The research variables in this case which can be measured by the use of correlation include conducting preventive alcohol checks and the number of people who drink and drive. In other words, correlation measures the degree to which the two variables established herein are associated with each other. In this manner, a change in one variable is actually accompanied by a change in another.
The correlation in the different variables in this study would be linear if the change in the amount of one variable bears a constant ratio to the amount of change in the other variable (Liu, & Ho, 2010). On the other hand, nonlinear or curvilinear correlation happens when the ratio of the amount of change in one variable to the amount of change in another variable is not constant. The variables in this research study include conducting preventive alcohol checks and the number of people who drink and drive.
Data needs
Practically, a well thought out research question seeks to identify what one is going to explore in the actual research and the specific data needed for the same. Some of the basic questions in this regard include who, where and when. For example, we would want to know the demographic data which in essence pertains to the specified geographic area.
Research question: What effect does conducting preventive alcohol checks have on the number of people who drive after drinking?
With the stated research question, the type of data which will be required include
The frequencies preventive alcohol checks
The number of cases of drunk driving
The dates and days of the week when cases of drunk driving are common
The number of preventive checks outlined in each city each day
The frequencies of finding drunk drivers regardless of the preventive checks outlined therein
Opinion polls on factors influencing drunk driving
Demographic information for each of the selected areas of research interest
Other questions we might ask with regard to the data needs for this research include
We might need the data on the states which have already implemented preventive alcohol checks as a means of curbing drunk driving.
We may want to know the number of people caught and the frequencies therein based on the day of the week when there are increased chances of getting drunk drivers on the roads.
Further, we would want to know the consistency of application of preventive alcohol checks as a means of ending cases of drinking while driving as well as the related accidents.
References
Erickson, D. J., Smolenski, D. J., Toomey, T. L., Carlin, B. P., & Wagenaar, A. C. (2013). Do alcohol compliance checks decrease underage sales at neighboring establishments?. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs , 74 (6), 852-858.
Li, Y., Xie, D., Nie, G., & Zhang, J. (2012). The drink driving situation in China. Traffic Injury Prevention , 13 (2), 101-108.
Liu, Y. C., & Ho, C. H. (2010). Effects of different blood alcohol concentrations and post-alcohol impairment on driving behavior and task performance. Traffic Injury Prevention , 11 (4), 334-341.
Zhao, X., Zhang, X., & Rong, J. (2014). Study of the effects of alcohol on drivers and driving performance on straight road. Mathematical Problems in Engineering , 2014 .
