Strengthening State Alcohol Policies Can Reduce DUI Deaths: Study

Strengthening state alcohol policies by 10 percent can reduce the odds of alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths by the same amount, according to a new study.

Researchers examined more than 500,000 crash deaths. They used a scale of 29 possible alcohol policies a state can have, weighted by effectiveness. Alcohol taxes are among the most effective policies in reducing crash deaths, the article notes.

They found that for every 1 percent increase in the toughness of state policies, there was a 1 percent reduction of alcohol-related crashes, CNN reports.

If all states today increased the strength of their alcohol policies by 10 percent, it would save about 800 lives a years, the researchers report in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.