Costs of alcohol-related crashes: New Zealand estimates and suggested measures for use internationally

This paper presents policy-oriented measures of alcohol-related crash incidence and costs in New Zealand (N.Z.). Costs of crashes, where alcohol probably was a contributing factor were computed from official crash costs and police-reported crash/injury counts adjusted for under-reporting of crashes and of alcohol involvement. Alcohol-related crashes cost an estimated $1.2 billion in N.Z. in 1996. They equate to an estimated $0.75 per drink consumed, $17.80 per km driven above the legal limit of 0.08, and $1,100 per heavy drinker. People other than the drinkers, who caused the crashes, paid half the costs. An estimated one in 90 drunk-driving trips resulted in a crash (and often a drunk driving conviction) while one in 375 crash-free drunk driving trips also resulted in a drunk-driving conviction. Ten measures of alcohol-related crash incidence and costs are recommended for international use. They include number of alcohol-related deaths and injuries; innocent victims and children harmed in crashes caused by drinkers; annual costs and costs paid by people other than the drinker who caused the crash; crash costs per drink consumed, per heavy drinker, per kilometer driven drunk versus sober; probabilities of crash and of drunk-driving conviction.