Research proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Research proposal - Essay Example ng under intoxication (DUI) trips per year at blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 or higher which translates into 10% of all trips where at least some alcohol use is present (Dula, Dwyer & LeVerne, 2007). Various laws are in existence to achieve the Healthy People 2010 target for alcohol-related motor vehicle related fatalities to 4.0 per 100,000 persons or fewer. This would translate into a further decrease of 31% in the alcohol-related fatalities. Laws in force include the BAC level, the minimum legal drinking age and the minimum legal driving age. While statistics and data are available for the United States as a whole, no separate data for Houston is available on the extent to which the laws are being adhered to and to what extent violation of laws increases the number of alcohol-related fatalities. Hence the objective for this research would be to ascertain: 1. The age group that is usually involved in the alcohol-related fatalities in Houston. This would give details of the number of law violators both in case of minimum legal drinking age and minimum legal driving age. 3. To determine whether legal action was initiated against the violators in Houston. Initiating legal action can work as a deterrent for future and hence this data would enable corrective actions for the future. According to NHTSA (2006), during 2005, 15,195 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 39% of all traffic-related deaths (cited by Dula, Dwyer & LeVerne, 2007). Among the most widely used strategies in reducing alcohol-impaired driving has been the laws to deter such driving along with measures to reduce the sale or public consumption of alcohol (Shults et al., 2001). Community-based interventions and training programs for servers of alcoholic beverages have also been implemented. While majority of the drivers are dissuaded by the potential of a crash, injury or punishment, these disincentives are considered to be too insignificant to