Drunken Driving in Wisconsin

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Wisconsinites drive under the influence of alcohol - or, at least, admit to it - at a higher rate than the residents of any other state, a newly released federal study shows.

More than 26% of Wisconsin adults 18 and older told government researchers in massive nationwide surveys that they had driven under the influence in the previous year.

Not only was that the highest percentage of any state, it was more than 70% above the national average, 15.1%.

The study is consistent with a host of data on drinking in Wisconsin, which is among the country's leaders in per-person consumption of alcohol and for years has had the country's lowest abstention rate.

"I'm not shocked, I'm not surprised," Nina J. Emerson, director of the Resource Center on Impaired Driving at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said of the latest report.

Nor did the finding startle Paul Moberg, senior scientist in the Population Health Institute at UW-Madison and co-author of a 2007 study on Wisconsin's alcohol and drug use patterns.

"Not really," he said. "I think that's been what we've seen historically."

Wisconsin's 26.4% rate of driving under the influence was nearly three times the 9.5% rate in the lowest-ranking state, Utah, where Mormon tenets frown upon drinking. Several states in the South, where abstinence is common, posted rates below 12%.

...Both Moberg and Emerson pointed to a general acceptance of drinking in Wisconsin exceeding that in many other states.

"I think it's something to do with the culture of Wisconsin and what the shared expectations are of behavior," Moberg said. "People who come from other states remark on it. Any event you go to (in Wisconsin) has alcohol."

That's not true.

"Any event you go to (in Wisconsin) has alcohol."

I have lived in Wisconsin my entire life. I've never experienced the "expectation" that I should drink alcohol. Alcohol isn't part of my "culture."

If you want to drink, you can drink. So what?

The key to the findings in this study is the ADMIT to driving under the influence.

Emerson also said the widespread acceptance of drinking here might well make Wisconsin residents more likely than people elsewhere to answer honestly when asked about driving under the influence.

Further, she said, the question that forms the basis for the latest survey results is a bit squishy - asking people if during the previous 12 months they had driven a vehicle while "under the influence" of alcohol.

"That's pretty subjective," Emerson said.

Exactly.

This study isn't presenting hard facts. It's not objective. The truth is slippery.

The study may be telling more about what Wisconsinites consider to be "under the influence" and their honesty in fessing up to wrongdoing then it does about widespread drunken driving in the state.

I'm not in any way diminishing the seriousness of driving drunk. I'm just saying the numbers aren't necessarily measuring the "facts" of the behavior.

If there's so much more drunken driving in Wisconsin than in other states, then other measures, such as the number of alcohol-related accidents and DUI arrests, should reflect that.

That said, DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE.