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AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Nov 29, 2005
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American Journal of Public Health, 10.2105/AJPH.2005.073122

Research and Practice

Traffic Crash Injuries Among 15- to 19-Year-Olds and Minimum Purchasing Age for Alcohol in New Zealand

Kypros Kypri 1*, Robert B. Voas 2, John D. Langley 3, Shaun C.R. Stephenson 3, Dorothy J. Begg 3, A. Scott Tippetts 2, Gabrielle S. Davie 3

1 University of Newcastle
2 Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
3 Injury Prevention Research Unit, University of Otago

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kypri{at}tpg.com.au.


  Abstract

Objectives. In 1999, New Zealand lowered the minimum purchasing age for alcohol from 20 to 18. We tested the hypothesis that this increased traffic crash injuries among 15- to 19-year-olds.

Methods. Poisson regression was used to compute incidence rate ratios for the after to before incidence of alcohol-involved crashes and hospitalized injuries among 18- to 19-year-olds and 15- to 17-year-olds (20- to 24-year-olds were the reference).

Results. Among men, the ratio of the alcohol-involved crash rate after the law change to the period before was 12% larger (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.00, 1.25) for 18- to 19-year-olds and 14% larger (95% CI=1.01, 1.30) for 15- to 17-yearolds, relative to 20- to 24-year-olds. Among women, the equivalent ratios were 51% larger (95% CI=1.17, 1.94) for 18- to 19-year-olds and 24% larger (95% CI=0.96, 1.59) for 15- to 17-year-olds. A similar pattern was observed for hospitalized injuries.

Conclusions. Significantly more alcohol-involved crashes occurred among 15- to 19-year-olds than would have occurred had the purchase age not been reduced to 18. The effect size for 18- to 19-year-olds is remarkable given the legal exceptions to the pre-1999 law and its poor enforcement. (Am J Public Health. 2005;95:XXX-XXX. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2005.073122)

Key Words: Adolescent Health, Injury/Emergency Care/Violence, Alcohol




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