Abstract
Using survey data from 3004 respondents aged 21 and older in Northern Virginia, Richmond, and the Tidewater area, this paper identifies factors associated with respondents’ travel choices in alcohol-related situations: (1) the last time the respondent consumed alcohol, (2) when avoiding driving after drinking, and (3) when avoiding riding with a driver who had been drinking. Travel options included using various transportation modes and no travel (spending the night). Multinomial logit models (with and without random parameters) were developed to identify factors associated with each of the three alcohol-related cases. Heterogeneous effects were present in the first two models but not the third. For (1), significant factors included age, income, level of education, occupation, household characteristics, gender, comfort with credit cards tied to applications, location where alcohol was last consumed outside the home (e.g., bar, house of friend, restaurant), and place of residence. For (2), significant factors included age, gender, income, full time employment, living alone, taking multiple modes of transportation in a single trip during a typical week, region of residence, consumption of alcohol at a bar/tavern/club, consumption of alcohol at the home of friends/acquaintances, comfort with credit cards tied to applications, and use of an app for hotel reservations and/or air transportation arrangements. Significant factors for (3) were similar to those for (2). Based on the data (rather than a model), for the subset of those last consuming alcohol in a bar, more people reported using TNCs than driving. It is possible that TNCs draw from other sober driver alternatives by offering greater independence for the traveler and less burden on designated drivers or friends/family.
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Acknowledgements
Funding for this study was provided by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, for which the authors are grateful. The authors are solely responsible for the material presented in this paper. The authors also thank Dr. Sal Hernandez (OSU) and Mr. David Marasco (Clemson) for their modeling suggestions.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Teenage drinking is a serious problem in the United States with alcohol being the most frequently used substance among teens (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 2007). By age 18, about 60 percent of teens have had at least one drink (SAMHSA 2016). From the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 6% drove after drinking alcohol and 17% rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol (Kann et al. 2018).
Virginia statistics are generally near or below the national average for underage drinking and driving. In 2015, alcohol-related behaviors among high school students (grades 9–12) included:
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7% of Virginia students reported they drove a car or other vehicle after drinking alcohol versus 8% nationally.
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16% reported they rode with a driver who had been drinking versus 20% nationally (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2016).
From 2017 Virginia Crash data, law enforcement indicated that 452 underage drivers involved in 435 vehicle crashes had been drinking. Our study area’s contributions to these statistics are presented in the table below.
2017 Crashes Involving Underage Drinking Drivers
Region | Total | Fatal crashes | Serious injury crashes | Injury crashes | Minor injury crashes | Property damage only |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Northern Virginia | 96 | 1 | 8 | 20 | 5 | 62 |
Richmond | 83 | 2 | 8 | 22 | 1 | 50 |
Hampton Roads | 68 | 2 | 8 | 21 | 6 | 31 |
Total Study Area | 247 | 5 | 24 | 63 | 12 | 143 |
Total Virginia | 435 | 8 | 51 | 116 | 23 | 237 |
Appendix 2
The phrasing of the survey questions leading to the dependent variables in this paper are presented below.
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Murray-Tuite, P., Anderson, J.C., Lahkar, P. et al. Travel choices in alcohol-related situations in Virginia. Transportation 48, 1–44 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-019-10039-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-019-10039-1