Prevalence and characteristics of Indigenous drink-driving convictions in Queensland, Australia

Alcohol-involved road crashes are one of the leading contributors to high injury rates among Indigenous Australians. However, there is limited information available to inform new policies to change current rates. The study aims to provide information about the prevalence and the characteristics of drinkdriving convictions. Convictions from 2006 to2010 were extracted from the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney General database. Convictions were regrouped by gender, age, Accessibility/ Remoteness Index of Australia classification and sentence severity. Chi-squares with standardised adjusted residuals were calculated for crosstabulations between variables. There were 9323 convictions, of which the majority were for male persons (77.5%). Half (52.6%) of the convictions were of persons 25 years. Age was significantly different across the five regions for males only, with a larger number of convictions in the every remotef region of persons 40+ years of age. Increased remoteness was linked with high range blood alcohol content (.0.15 g/100 mL) convictions for both males and females. Monetary penalties were the primary sentence received in all regions. The findings identify the Indigenous conviction rate to be six times that of Queensland. It is recommended a multipronged approach is undertaken, with tailored strategies for remote offenders, youth, and offenders with potential issues of alcohol misuse.