The rate of alcohol-related car crashes is higher in some Kentucky counties that don't sell alcohol than in those that do, and people in "dry" counties are reports Adam Sulfridge for the Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., amid debate over the latest wet-dry vote in the area.
A review of Kentucky State Police records from 1995 to 2010 shows that alcohol-related crashes dropped in Knox County, where alcohol sales are illegal, when restaurants in two neighboring counties, Whitley and Laurel, began allowing alcohol sales. In a neighboring dry county, McCreary, the rate of alcohol-related crashes were sometimes twice as high as in Laurel and Whitley. Many rural counties in Kentucky and other states don't allow alcohol sales, while some only allow sales in restaurants.
Sulfridge tracked down a 2002 state report which said, “Analysis of crash data revealed a similar proportion of crashes in wet and dry counties are alcohol-related but that a higher proportion of dry counties residents are involved in an alcohol-related crash.”
“An argument we hear is that people can drink closer to home and so they make it home without incident, whereas in dry counties people must travel farther after drinking,” State Police Lt. David Jude told Sulfridge. Local officers told him the decrease in crashes is the result of their hard work to curb drunk driving. (Read more)
A review of Kentucky State Police records from 1995 to 2010 shows that alcohol-related crashes dropped in Knox County, where alcohol sales are illegal, when restaurants in two neighboring counties, Whitley and Laurel, began allowing alcohol sales. In a neighboring dry county, McCreary, the rate of alcohol-related crashes were sometimes twice as high as in Laurel and Whitley. Many rural counties in Kentucky and other states don't allow alcohol sales, while some only allow sales in restaurants.
Sulfridge tracked down a 2002 state report which said, “Analysis of crash data revealed a similar proportion of crashes in wet and dry counties are alcohol-related but that a higher proportion of dry counties residents are involved in an alcohol-related crash.”
“An argument we hear is that people can drink closer to home and so they make it home without incident, whereas in dry counties people must travel farther after drinking,” State Police Lt. David Jude told Sulfridge. Local officers told him the decrease in crashes is the result of their hard work to curb drunk driving. (Read more)
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