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2007-29 Evaluation of Minnesota’s Operation NightCAP Program Take the steps... Research ...K no wle dge...Innovativ e S olu ti on s! Transportation Research Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. 3. Recipients Accession No. MN/RC 2007-29 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Evaluation of Minnesota’s Operation NightCAP Program August 2007 6. 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Janet I. Creaser, William Aflleje, Flavia Nardi 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Project/Task/Work Unit No. HumanFIRST Program ITS Institute - University of Minnesota 11. Contract (C) or Grant (G) No. 111 Church St. SE. (c) 81655 (wo) 203 Minneapolis, MN 55455 12. Sponsoring Organization Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Minnesota Department of Transportation Final Report 395 John Ireland Boulevard Mail Stop 330 14. Sponsoring Agency Code St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 15. Supplementary Notes http://www.lrrb.org/PDF/200729.pdf 16. Abstract (Limit: 200 words) This project evaluated Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s (Mn/DPS) Operation NightCAP (Concentrated Alcohol Patrol) Program. This overtime enforcement program uses saturation patrols to identify impaired drivers. The project consisted of 3 tasks: a crash data analysis, a driver survey and an officer survey. The crash analysis indicated that saturation patrols have a marginally statistically significant effect on the decrease in fatal and severe- injury alcohol-related crashes rates in Minnesota. The effect of a single saturation is small (~0.1%), indicating that many patrols would be needed to see significant decreases in alcohol-related crash rates. A survey of 5000 Minnesota drivers in 6 counties resulted in 838 completed surveys. Approximately 19% of Minnesota drivers are aware of the Program. Drivers' beliefs about impaired driving influenced their perception of alcohol-enforcement programs and their choices to drive after drinking. Fourteen Program Coordinators and 86 law enforcement officers from the Program also responded to a survey and shared their perceptions about the Program's effectiveness. Main conclusions drawn from the surveys were that saturation patrols are not highly visible to the public and the current Program advertising is not very effective in communities where it is active. Main recommendations are to improve patrol visibility and associated advertising. 17. Document Analysis/Descriptors 18. Availability Statement Impaired driving, driver surveys, No restrictions. Document available from: Poisson models, alcohol-related National Technical Information Services, crashes, police enforcement Springfield, Virginia 22161 19. Security Class (this report) 20. Security Class (this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 118 Evaluation of Minnesota’s Operation NightCAP Program Final Report Prepared by: Janet Creaser William Aflleje Flavia Nardi HumanFIRST Program ITS Institute University of Minnesota August 2007 Published by: Minnesota Department of Transportation Research Services Section 395 John Ireland Boulevard, MS 330 St. Paul, Minnesota 55155-1899 This report represents the results of research conducted by the authors and does not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and/or the Center for Transportation Studies. This report does not contain a standard or specified technique. Acknowledgements This project was sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (Mn/DPS) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT 81655, Work Order 203). Special thanks to Jean Ryan, who acted as liaison between the researchers and DPS for this project. The authors also wish to thank the members of Mn/DPS who provided support and information during the course of this project: Lt. Mark Peterson, Kammy Huneke, Kathleen Haney, Dick Smith, and Alan Rodgers. Additional thanks go to Loren Hill and Dave Engstrom of Mn/DOT who acted as technical liaisons for the project, and to Ann Mclellan who provided support as the Administrative Liaison. Table of Contents CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Operation NightCAP...................................................................................................................................................1 Operation NightCAP Saturation Patrols ...................................................................................................................1 Funding.....................................................................................................................................................................2 Publicity....................................................................................................................................................................4 Program Evaluation ..................................................................................................................................................4 CHAPTER 2 CRASH & DWI DATA ANALYSIS............................................................. 5 Methods ........................................................................................................................................................................5 Statewide Analyses of Alcohol-Related Crash Rates: Poisson Regression Models .................................................5 Results: Poisson Regression Models.........................................................................................................................8 Alcohol-Related Fatal Crash Rates ......................................................................................................................8 Alcohol-Related Severe Injury Crash Rates.......................................................................................................10 Section Summary: Poisson Regression Model .......................................................................................................11 Alcohol-Related Fatal Crash Rates ....................................................................................................................11 Alcohol-Related Severe-Injury Crash Rates ......................................................................................................12 County Level Analyses of Alcohol-Related Crash Rates: Longitudinal Models....................................................13 Results for Alcohol-Related Crash Rates: Longitudinal Models ............................................................................16 Alcohol-Related Fatal Crash Rates ....................................................................................................................16 Alcohol-Related Severe Injury Crash Rates.......................................................................................................16 DWI Incidents: Longitudinal Model.......................................................................................................................16 Results for DWI Rates: Longitudinal Model ..........................................................................................................17 Section Summary: Longitudinal Models ................................................................................................................19 Crash and DWI Data Conclusions ...........................................................................................................................19 Recommendations Based on Crash and DWI Analyses .........................................................................................20 CHAPTER 3 DRIVER SURVEY.................................................................................... 22 Methods ......................................................................................................................................................................22 Counties Surveyed ..................................................................................................................................................22 Results.........................................................................................................................................................................23 Sample Demographics ............................................................................................................................................23 Awareness of Operation NightCAP........................................................................................................................24 How Do Drivers Hear About NightCAP?..........................................................................................................27 Have you ever heard of or seen the BAT (Blood Alcohol Testing) Mobile?.....................................................27 Awareness of General Alcohol Enforcement..........................................................................................................28 Awareness Summary ..............................................................................................................................................29 Influence of Awareness on Driving Behaviors and Perceptions of Enforcement ...................................................30 Direct Changes in Risk Perception.....................................................................................................................34 Driver Behavior and Perceptions of Enforcement Summary..................................................................................35