Drink driving in Hong Kong: the competing effects of random breath testing and alcohol tax reductions

Aims To investigate the competing effects of increased anti-drink driving legislation and the recent elimination of excise taxes on wine and beer. Design Serial cross-sectional telephone surveys were conducted in 2006 (n=9860) and 2011 (n=4800). Setting Hong Kong, China. Participants Chinese adults (18 years of age). Measurements Respondents were asked about their drinking patterns, past-year experience of driving within 2 hours of drinking, drinking-related attitudes and reported deterrents to drink driving. Findings Following the legislative changes, the age-standardized past-year prevalence of drink driving decreased significantly from 5.2 to 2.8% (P<0.001) among all males, from 9.0 to 4.4% (P<0.001) among male past-year drinkers and from 13.7 to 8.5% (P<0.01) among male weekly drinkers. The past-year prevalence of drink driving in 2011 among all females (0.08%), female past-year drinkers (1.6%), male binge drinkers (12.5%), female weekly drinkers (4.7%) and female binge drinkers (7.9%) were not significantly different from 2006. Drink driving was associated independently with business sector employment [odds ratio (OR)=2.47], past-month binge drinking (OR=6.08) and beliefs in the benefits to one's wellbeing of drinking (OR=2.62) among males and past-month binge drinking (OR=5.57), belief in the social benefits of drinking (OR=5.66) and being unmarried (OR=3.00) in females (P<0.05). The most commonly reported drink driving deterrents were concerns about random breath tests (93.8%) and the potential legal consequences of conviction (93.6-96.5%). Conclusions Despite greater alcohol consumption in Hong Kong, the current anti-drink driving strategy appears to reduce drink driving in males and prevent increased levels among females. Binge drinkers, however, remain a high-risk group that should be monitored continually.