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. 2022 Nov 21;9(1):32.
doi: 10.1186/s40621-022-00407-4.

Evaluation of the national sobriety checkpoints program in Mexico: a difference-in-difference approach with variation in timing of program adoption

Pricila H Mullachery  1   2 , D Alex Quistberg  3   4 , Mariana Lazo  3   5 , Katherine Indvik  3 , Carolina Perez-Ferrer  6   7 , Nancy López-Olmedo  8 , M Arantxa Colchero  9 , Usama Bilal  3   10
Affiliations

Evaluation of the national sobriety checkpoints program in Mexico: a difference-in-difference approach with variation in timing of program adoption

Pricila H Mullachery et al. Inj Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Background: Up to a third of global road traffic deaths, and one in five in Mexico, are attributable to alcohol. In 2013, Mexico launched a national sobriety checkpoints program designed to reduce drink-driving in municipalities with high rates of alcohol-related collisions. Our study measured the association between the sobriety checkpoints program and road traffic mortality rates in 106 urban municipalities.

Methods: We leveraged data from the Salud Urbana en America Latina (SALURBAL), which compiles health and environmental data from cities with over 100,000 residents. Death data from 2005 to 2019 (i.e., outcome) were from official vital statistics. Among 106 Mexican municipalities defined as priority areas for intervention, 54 adopted the program (i.e., treatment) in 2013, 16 municipalities did so in 2014, 16 in 2015, 10 in 2016, 7 in 2017, and 2 in 2019. We used a difference-in-difference approach with inverse probability weighting adapted to a context where program adoption is staggered over time.

Results: There was a 12.3% reduction in road traffic fatalities per 10,000 passenger vehicles in the post-treatment period compared to the pre-treatment period (95% Confidence Interval, - 17.8; - 6,5). There was a clear trend of decline in mortality in municipalities that adopted the program (vs. comparison) particularly after year 2 of the program.

Conclusions: In this study of 106 municipalities in Mexico, we found a 12.3% reduction in traffic fatalities associated with the adoption of sobriety checkpoints. There was a clear trend indicating that this association increased over time, which is consistent with sustained changes in drink-driving behavior. These findings provide support and insight for efforts to implement and evaluate the impact of sobriety checkpoint policies across Latin America.

Keywords: Alcohol control policy; Alcohol-related harm; Drink-driving policies; Latin America; Mexico; Road traffic deaths.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Municipalities included in the study grouped by year of adoption of program
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution of municipalities that adopted the program from 2013 to 2019 according to four covariates. Plot A: population size vs. patch density; Plot B: socioeconomic score vs. percent urban. Population is the population in 2012. Patch density is the number of continuous urban development patches per 100 km square of land in 2012. Percent urban is the percentage of the land area of the municipality that is covered by urban patches in 2012. Socioeconomic score is a regression-based score based on the percentage of the population aged 25 or older with secondary education and college completed in 2010. The municipalities outlined in Plot B, adopted the program in 2013, and are unmatched by municipalities in comparison groups. These municipalities were more than 80% urban, and several of them also had high SES scores. These municipalities are part of Mexico City and were excluded in first sensitivity analysis
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Dynamic treatment effect (ATT, 95% CI) of sobriety checkpoints on traffic mortality rates. The coefficients represent the weighted average of the group-time differences in outcome among treated and not-yet-treated groups in the years pre- and post-adoption. The not-yet-treated group progressively reduces as more municipalities adopt the program over the years
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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