Deterring alcohol-impaired driving: A comparative analysis of compliance in Norway and the United States

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Abstract
Previous causal analysis has failed to demonstrate the deterrent effectiveness of tough Scandinavian drinking-driving laws. In contrast to earlier research which examined legal threat as the sole determinant of control (simple deterrence), the present investigation was more broadly construed to include a range of other social and psychological influences (general deterrence). National probability samples of licensed drivers in the United States (N = 1000) and Norway (N = 1012) revealed higher levels of legal knowledge, moral commitment and drinking-driving compliance for Norwegians than Americans. The findings tend to support Andenaes' theory of general prevention, and they raise fundamental questions about treating law as a simple “intervention” which is wholly amenable to causal analysis.