A substantial proportion of alcohol related fatalities and their consequences are preventable, prompting policymakers to implement measures aimed at reducing these deaths. I exploit time and geographic variation in the adoption of zero‐tolerance laws in a difference‐in‐differences design to study the impact of these regulations on traffic‐related incidents. Using county‐level data, I find no sizable reductions in fatalities and an increase in injury counts after the adoption of such laws. I do not find significant changes in several measures of alcohol consumption, consistent with the lack of reduction in driving fatalities.
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Andres Ramasco (2025) studied this question.
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