Key strategic issues with rural drink drive enforcement

Rural drinkdrivingisaserious road safety issue which contributes to a significant number of fatalities and injuries inNew Zealandannually. Although enforcement remains a keymechanism for reducing the incidence of rural drink driving, there are a number of crucial strategic issues that influence its effectiveness, including: who should conduct the enforcement, resource availability, enforcement predictability and visibility, issues around detection vs. deterrence and long term vs. short term deterrence, the wordof mouth (WOM) effect, and the avoidance of enforcement activity. Utilising international literature, interviewdata, andfieldwork, this paper examines some of the main strategic issues relatingto rural drinkdriveenforcement in New Zealand, and concludes that in order for this enforcement to be effective, these issuesneed to be seriously considered.