The Sydney Drink-Driver Scheme: A Court Referral Program For High Risk Drinking Drivers.

Elizabeth J. Walker3

SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

The dimension o f the problem of alcohol on our roads is familiar to us all here today. While the magnitude of this problem and degree of stated concern may differ between our borders, alarm generally has been expressed at the extent to which alcohol is found to be a contributing factor in road accidents.

In Australia much concern has recently been indicated5 6-7 and it is increasingly evident ‘that orthodox statutory procedures designed to control and punish drinking drivers . . . are plainly failing to reduce the road toll’.2

Further, it has been found in N.S.W. that there is a hard core o f (drink-driver) offenders who are reappearing regularly, undeterred by penalties.4 Possibly, this ‘hard core’ may have developed social and physical problems associated with alcohol abuse and if so, such may prove a relevant factor in present sanction ineffectiveness with respect to this group.

The considered inadequacies o f traditional sanctions have led to the search for alternative measures. The United States now provides many examples of court-referral programs for drinking drivers in addition to a num ber of other measures which include public education campaigns.

The Sydney Drink-Driver Scheme constitutes a second major State Government attack upon those excessive drinkers who drive on New South Wales roads. During 1973-4 the D epartm ent o f M otor Transport conducted a large-scale public education campaign on drink­ing and driving, its target audience comprising the entire adult Sydney community.1

In contrast, this court-based diversionary program focuses its attention on those drinking drivers believed to be at high risk — i. e. the ‘hard core’ o f recidivist drink-drive offenders. Risk is in fact defined in a two-fold manner: firstly, a risk of being involved in accidents where alcohol is a contributing cause, and secondly a risk of possessing or developing social and physical problems often associated with alcohol abuse. High risk is thus calculated in both traffic and health terms.

OUTLINE OF SCHEME DEVELOPMENT

The program which has been requested and adopted by successive N.S.W Governments, was devised by an inter-departm ental committee comprising the Departments of the Attorney- General & Justice, M otor Transport, Corrective Services, the Health Commission and the

3 Research Officer, N.S.W. Central Court of Petty Sessions, Sydney, Australia.

582

A Court Referral Program fo r High Risk Drinking Drivers 583

Police Department. Its chairman is Mr Murray Farquhar, Chief Stipendiary Magistrate for the N.S.W. Court of Petty Sessions.

Operations commenced on 1 March 1976 as a demonstration exercise and the program has continued in this form since that date. At first, the scheme was offered by two courts, Central and Bankstown. Both were located within the Sydney metropolitan area, handled considerable proportions of the state’s breathalysed drivers and were serviced by Health Com­mission agencies. In July 1976 the Scheme was extended to include North Sydney and Hornsby Courts.

The Scheme objectives stated by the Committee were to:(a) identify the driver with a drinking problem ;(b) assess the degree of his drinking problem and the most effective method of treating it;(c) minimise the likelihood o f his subsequently driving after drinking heavily.

The committee considered that the high blood alcohol concentrations found in many drivers who had been involved in accidents indicated that a ‘small minority o f drivers were responsible for a disproportionate number of deaths’. They thus focused their attention-on this definable group.

O P E R A T IO N S

Only those drivers who are charged with having a blood/alcohol concentration of 150 m g /100 ml and above, or at least one previous drink-driving conviction, are offered scheme entrance.

Having pleaded guilty and elected to enter, the defendant’s case is adjourned for an eight-week period while he attends a central assessment centre. Here he usually undergoes a medical examination and is directed to one of three available programs where he attends sessions conducted during the remainder of his case adjournm ent period.

Briefly, these alternative programs comprise educational classes which are held weekly and discuss the effects of alcohol on the body and driving skills. Breathalyser legislation and penalties contained therein are as a rule discussed, in addition to the amount of alcohol required to break the law. A second program generally offers a more individual counselling approach whilst the third alternative is behaviour modification. This program in part attempts to train clients to recognise their own bodily responses to alcohol at the chosen limit (.05 gm/ml). In this way the person is taught to monitor his own blood alcohol concen­tration.3

Clinics are set up to service each court and there does exist considerable differences between the approaches o f supervisors structuring each course.

Throughout the eight-week adjournm ent the defendant is placed under the supervision o f a probation officer employed by the N.S.W. Departm ent of Corrective Services. Reports are filed by these officers with the magistrate at the conclusion of participation, and these outline the defendant’s demographic and drinking history in addition to program partici­pation.

Thus, in broad terms, by restricting the availability of the program, the committee focused its attention on a minority group o f high risk drivers. Whilst it was acknowledged that such was not the only defined problem group of drink-drivers, it was considered that available resources would best be employed in this manner. The scheme is attempting to effect an attitudinal change by education and an alteration in behaviour patterns in two activities: daily alcohol consumption and driving after or whilst drinking to excess.

584 E. J. Walker

A P R O F IL E O F P A R T IC IP A N T S

N um bers enrolled

Assessment centres advise that to date 560 drinking drivers have entered the Scheme, 470 having completed their attendance. A further ninety are presently enrolled. A total o f 243 clients have been assigned to Educational classes, 230 to counselling and eighty-seven to Behaviour Modification.

Survey o f 1976 D em onstration Court Records

A survey o f those persons completing their scheme participation prior to 1 January 1977, plus a comparable group o f drinking drivers convicted before the four pilot courts during 1976, and apprehended at a similar time as scheme participants, has been completed. A total num ber o f 1129 convicted offenders were noted, Court files being made available for the survey in 1106 cases.

D escription o f offenders. First, the survey revealed that 95% or 338 of the 356 recorded scheme clients had in fact been charged with a P.C.A. or breathalyser offence (driving with the prescribed content o f alcohol in the blood). This profile remained constant in all drink driving offences before the dem onstration courts, and the N.S.W. Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research has indicated that such offences do in fact consistently form a similar bulk of State drink driving convictions4 (Table I).

TABLE I D rink drive offences — P ilo t courts

Definition o f Offences

SchemeEntrantsNo. %

Total Sample of Offenders No. %

1975f State Drink

Drive Figures%

P.C.A. — drive with the prescribed content of alcohol in the blood, .8 m g/100 ml 338 94.9 1053 95.2 89.0

*D.U.I. — drive under influence but detected without the aid of the Breathalyser AND refusal to take Breathalyser test 18 5.1 50 4.5 10.5

Aid and Abet Breathalyser Offence - - 3 0.3 0.5

TOTAL 356 100.0 1106 100.0

*D.U.I. & Refuse B. whilst separate offences have in this table been observed together as in the majority of instances a driver is charged with both rather than either one offence.+Source: N.S.W. Bureau Crime Statistics & Research Court Statistics 1975 — NSW BCSR 19764

Suitability . The survey secondly indicated that 60% of the 1090 offenders able to be classified, were found suitable for entry according to the above-mentioned criteria. The following table further details this event. (Table II).

A Court Referral Program fo r High Risk Drinking Drivers 585

TABLE II Suitabilityfor Drink-Driver Scheme

Present Offence + Conviction History Details* No. %1st Drink-Drive Offence BAC 150 m g /100 ml and above 390 35.7History Drink-Drive convictions BAC less than 150 m g/100 ml 81 7.4History Drink-Drive convictions Plus BAC 150 m g/100 ml and above 161 14.8Other than P.C.A. Offence History of Drink-Drive Convictions 18 1.7Subtotal Offered Entry 650 59.6

1st Drink-Drive Offence BAC less than 150 m g/100 ml 399 36.6Other than P.C.A. Offence and No Prior Conviction 41 3.8

SUBTOTAL: ENTRY NOT OFFERED 440 40.4

TOTAL 1090 100.0

*In 16 cases insufficent information was available for this classification.

E ntrance Rate. O f the 650 recorded offenders to whom the Drink-Driver Scheme was made available, approximately 50% or 333 persons accepted this offer. An additional twenty- three persons indicated their desire to enter the Scheme and a tally o f Scheme entrants showed 356 persons or 32% of the total observed offender population (1106) had accepted the offer. Notably this entrance rate does emphasise the voluntary nature o f participation.

Com pletion o f Schem e Participation. 90% of those drivers who entered the Scheme satis­factorily completed their attendance, according to information available in probation reports. Unfortunately however in only 328 of the 356 cases were probation reports obtainable from court files. Satisfactory completion was granted if the client had attended five of his seven assigned sessions or indicated his intention to complete at the time of his court appearance. The various reasons for unsatisfactory completion are outlined in the Table III.

TABLE III R ate o f Schem e Com pletion

State of Completion* No. %

COMPLETED ATTENDANCEor at least 70% of programmed Sessions, or stated intention to complete

264 89.8

UNSATISFACTORY ATTENDANCE OF SESSIONS - less than 70% 18 6.1

FAILED TO ATTEND INITIAL ASSESSMENT INTERVIEW 4 1.4

ATTENDED ASSESSMENT INTERVIEW FOUND UNSUITABLE (Generally due to language difficulties) 8 2.7

SUBTOTAL UNSATISFACTORY COMPLETION 30 10.2

TOTAL: ENTERED SCHEME, PROBATION REPORT AVAILABLE & ABOVE INFORMATION SUPPLIED 294 100.0

*In 34 cases Probation Reports were available but insufficient information was supplied to calculate the above table.

586 E. J. Walker

A g e / S e x Profile. 97% of the participating group were male and a further 3% female (Table IV). These proportions were as anticipated and were similarly consistent with the remaining sample o f observed and classified offenders and the N.S.W. drink-driver statistics recorded for 1975 by the N.S.W. Bureau o f Crime Statistics & Research.

TABLE IV Sex D istribution

Entered Scheme

No. %

Declined Entry

No. %

Not Offered Entry

No. %TotalNo.

175*StateDrink-Drive Figures

% %Male 344 96.9 310 97.8 406 97.4 1060 97.3 97.5Female 11 3.1 7 2.2 11 2.6 29 2.7 2.5TOTAL 355 100.0 317 100.0 417 100.0 1089 100.0 100.0Sex was unstated in 1 case*Source: NSW BCSR Court Statistics 19754

It is im portant to note that the age distribution of entered offenders concentrates in the above thirty year age bracket (Table V). This profile contrasts with the state drink-driver statistics which, for a num ber o f years has been highlighted by a disproportionate number o f offenders in the below thirty years group.4

TABLE V A ge D istribution

Entered Scheme

No. %

Declined Entry

No. %

Not Offered Scheme

No. %TotalNo.

1975* CLASS 1* Drink- Licence Drive Holders Statistics (1971)% % %

Under 18 Years 2 0.4 2 0.2 0.4 2.0

18-24 years 79 22.2 55 17.6 169 40.8 303 28.0 33.3 23.8

25-29 years 67 18.8 50 16.0 77 18.6 194 17.9 16.3 13.4

30-34 years 58 16.3 57 18.3 43 10.4 158 14.6 12.5 9.9

35-39 years 41 11.5 41 13.1 28 6.8 110 10.2 9.7 8.2

40 + years 111 31.2 109 35.0 95 23.0 315 29.1 27.8 42.7

TOTAL 356 100.0 312 100.0 414 100.0 1082 100.0 100.0 100.0

Age was unstated in 8 cases.♦N.S.W. BCSR COURT STATISTICS 1975 P.334

Sixty per cent o f Scheme entrants recorded an age above thirty years. Further, 66% of the remaining offenders considered eligible were of a similar age. The disproportionate vol­ume o f breathalysed offenders below the age o f thirty years is clearly not the focus of the Sydney Drink-Drive Scheme. Rather the older, recidivist and those recording high BACs have received attention. The scheme thus contrasts with concern expressed for the youthful offender and rehabilitation programs designed to cater for his needs.

O ccupational Prestige. Traditionally in N.S.W. persons convicted of a drink-drive charge have reported their occupation to be generally within the semi-skilled and unskilled

categories. This was additionally the case for all three categories o f drink-drive offenders observed in the present survey (Table VI). It would appear, however, that the demonstration courts have coming before them a larger proportion o f professional and semi-professional offenders than is generally the case for other courts in N.S.W. and it is suggested that the location o f two of the courts, North Sydney and Hornsby on Sydney’s North Shore, would account for this trend.

A Court Referral Program fo r High Risk Drinking Drivers 587

TABLE VI Occupational Prestige

Entered Scheme

No. %

Declined Entry

No. %

NotOfferedEntry Total

No. % No.

1975*StateDrink-Drive Offenders % %

Professional Managerial A 3 Semi- Professional / Middle

Management B 37 Sales, Small Business,

Clerical, Skilled trades C 215 Unskilled D 75

0.9

11.2

65.222.7

12 4.2

54 18.8

142 49.3 80 27.7

8

49

22180

2.2 23

13.7 140

61.7 578 22.4 235

2.4

14.3

59.224.1

0.8

8.6

49.940.7

330 100.0 288 100.0 358 100.0 976 100.0 100.0

There were 70 persons with no occupation. In 44 cases occupation was unstated. *BCSR COURT STA TISTICS1975 P.344

TABLE VII Court Action9

CATEGORIES: CONVICTED DRIVERS - PILOT COURTS

TOTAL

Defendantswho Failed to Not Completed Complete * Degree Declined Offered Scheme Scheme Completion Scheme Scheme Attendance Attendance Unknown Entrance Entrance

% % % % %Total

%

556A Dismissal, Recognisance 6.7 4.5 1.3 11.6 9.3 8.8

Recognisance with/without probation 1.2 4.5 1.0 - 0.2 0.5

Recognisance & Licence Suspension/Restriction 13.0 4.6 15.6 1.9 1.0 5.1

Recognisance, Licence Suspension/Restriction & Fine 25.1 36.4 29.9 1.6 _ 9.3

FINE ONLY - - 2.9 1.3 1.7 1.2

Fine & Licence Suspension/Restriction 53.6 50.0 48.5 82.0 86.8 74.5

Preriodic Detention with/without Licence Suspension/Restriction 0.4 _ 0.4 0.3 1.0 0.2

Other Imprisonment - - 0.4 1.3 - 0.4

TOTAL 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

N = 256 N = 30 N = 62 N = 310 N = 410 N == 1068

Court Action was unstated in 22 cases.T h is group includes those whose probation reports were not available on court file and those probation reports which did not include a statement concerning scheme completion.

588 E. J. Walker

Further, o f all observed populations the program entrant group recorded the highest proportion o f semi-skilled and unskilled jobs, while more of those who elected not to enter were reported having professional and semi-professional employment. These statistics are consistent with the reported problem of lack of education amongst those participating in the program. It additionally appears that the professional person generally prefers more tra­ditional sentencing processes.

C ourt A ction . No effort has been made to contrive a consistant penalty system for scheme participants. Traditionally most drink-drive offenders have received a fine and licence suspen­sion. The following table illustrates that this procedure has remained the most preferred sentencing tool (Table VII). There is however a significant proportion of participants who are bound over by a 558 recognisance in addition to receiving the fine and licence suspension. In such cases the period of licence suspension has often been reduced and the effect of this sentencing practice is yet to be determined.

THE RESEARCH TASK

Term s o f Contract

Research has continued for the duration o f the demonstration exercise. The original terms o f contract were stated by the committee: ‘to monitor, co-ordinate and evaluate the effec­tiveness of the experimental program ’.

The following is a detailed summary of the research which is in the process of being completed.

M o n ito r

Firstly the monitor, o f the scheme comprised a thorough search of all available court records. Preliminary results of this survey have been presented above.

In the second instance, this monitor consists of a complete outline of the scheme’s func­tioning during this pilot period. Many program developments have been made as client needs are increasingly understood and full documentation o f such events should prove of use to observers.

E valuation E xercise

In the research design, the framework was established for an analysis of program effectiveness. The following questions were addressed:• to what extent is the program able to meet its aims?• is the ‘problem drinker’ who drives pinpointed? and• is the scheme a more effective method than time-honoured sentencing procedures in reduc­

ing drink-driving reconviction rates?• as considerable time periods are necessary for such behaviour observations, an interim

measure o f attitude change with respect to driving after excessive drinking was also inves­tigated. A reduction in general alcohol consumption was defined as another aim of the scheme. A monitor o f the scheme’s effectiveness in achieving this aim was not possible, thus a surrogate measure o f attitude alteration was additionally employed.

M ethodo logy

First a pilot questionnaire was constructed and comprised an alcoholism inventory modelled on the abridged Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST). Attitude scales for drinking

A Court Referral Program for High Risk Drinking Drivers 589

and driving in addition to excessive alcohol consumption were also included thus enabling a determination o f increased awareness to be calculated. The pilot questionnaire was com­pleted by forty-seven scheme entrants. Questionnaire 1 was then constructed and distributed to a sample group of scheme entrants prior to entry into any one treatment alternative. The total sample will be 300 approximately. A second questionnaire is at present being distributed to this same sample on receipt o f sentence. This questionnaire repeats the attitude items and knowledge inventories and additionally seeks a subjective response concerning opinions o f the scheme.

A control group o f approximately 300 — matched on some demographic variables and conviction characteristics has also completed this second questionnaire. Comparability be­tween groups will further be increased by statistical techniques. t

Following the computation o f these data during April 1977, it is anticipated that the degree to which the scheme has pinpointed the problem drinker and the degree to which it has succeeded in achieving attitude changes towards drinking and driving and excessive alcohol consumption will be better appreciated. Additionally, the subjective opinions of scheme participants will be recorded.

Finally, program effectiveness may be determined in part, by a comparison o f reconvic­tion rates of those participating in the program with a control of drinking drivers who were not offered such entrance.

Recidivism in drinking-driving, other traffic and criminal convictions are being calcu­lated. The first 100 entrants have been observed over a six-month period and behaviour in this regard is compared with three other populations. Firstly, those who elected not to enter the scheme, secondly a sample population from control courts who were eligible for entry but not offered entrance and thirdly the sample of 1000 1972 breathalysed drivers. This information is provided by Mr Ross Homel. A larger sample needs to be observed over a greater period o f time and it is considered that only a data base for further research has been established at this point.

Rate of involvement in traffic crashes is also being calculated and in this instance the program participants are compared with all the populations mentioned above except the sample provided by Homel. Once again, it is not intended that this research be in any way complete.

Results

At present results are generally unavailable. However tentative reconviction rates have been calculated on a limited sample and for the six-month period following sentencing. I stress that the following information is in no way complete and given a much larger, more represen­tative sample, a lengthier observation period and a number of other conditions, such calcu­lations may alter considerably.

TABLE VIII Com parative R ates o f Reconviction —Tenative

Reconviction

EnteredScheme

%

DeclinedEntry

%

Not Offered Entry

%

Total

%

Homel*Calculation

%

Drink-Drive 1.9 5.1 5.1 4.0 2.5Other Traffic 9.4 12.8 10.2 10.6 6.0Criminal 1.9 12.8 6.8 6.6 3.0

N = 53 N = 39 N = 59 N = 151 N = 1000

*Mr Ross Homel, Macquarie University.

590 E. J. Walker

In the above table those entering the Sydney Drink-Drive Scheme are observed recording reconviction rates in all offences below the rates of those declining scheme entrance and those not offered entry. Additionally, with the exception of general traffic convictions this particular group is seen to have recorded reconviction rates in all offences below the six monthly reconviction rate for Homel’s sample o f 1000 1972 N.S.W. Breathalysed offenders. Whilst these statistics can only be viewed as being o f an utmost tentative nature, they are indeed encouraging.

CONCLUSIONS

Enthusiasm for continuation and expansion o f this pilot court-referral program is consider­able. Health officials and the magistry in other parts of N.S.W. are eager to commence similar operations. The prevailing sentiment may be summed: traditional sentencing procedures are not able to deter this recidivist group o f drinking drivers. Not only is this group at high risk in terms o f accident involvement but it is also at high risk health-wise. Possibly a health- oriented program will provide more encouraging results than our time-honoured sentencing tools.

It is anticipated that research o f this program will continue. As such results become available it is hoped that a better understanding o f the program’s effectiveness will de­velop.

REFERENCES

1. Freedman, K., Henderson, M. and Wood, R., Drink-Driving Propaganda in Sydney, Australia: Evaluation o f First Stage, Information Campaign, Traffic Accident Research Unit, Department of Motor Transport, New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, June 1975.

2. The Law Reform Commission, ‘Alcohol Drugs and Driving’, Report No. 4, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1976.

3. Lovibond, S., Drinking Driver Training Program, University o f New South Wales, Proceedings of Drinking Driver Rehabilitation Pilot Scheme Seminar, New South Wales Health Commission, Sydney, Australia, 1977.

4. N.S.W. Bureau o f Crime Statistics & Research, Court Statistics 1975. Statistical Report No. 7, Series 2, Department of the Attorney-General & Justice, N.S.W., Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research, Sydney, Australia, 1977.

5. Ryan, G. A., et al., Blood Alcohol & Road Trauma Survey, The Medical Journal of Australia 2:129-131, 1976.

6. Tonge, J. I., et al., Fatal Accidents in Brisbane from 1935 to 1964, The Medical Journal of Australia 2:811-820, 1964.

7. Whitlock, F. A., et al., The Drinking Driver or the Driving Drinker? Alcohol, Alcoholism & other Factors in Road Accidents, The Medical Journal of Australia, 2:5-16, 1971.