Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42170659›Full record

ArticleJournal of transport & health2026

Trends in Alcohol-Involved Crashes Among Young California Drivers Before, During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Ainsley Lotito, Federico E Vaca, Siwei Hu, Linda Hill, Julia Griswold, Kaigang Li

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of transport & health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Ainsley LotitoColorado School of Public Health, CU Anschutz Fitzsimons Building, 13001 East 17th Place, 3rd Floor, Mail Stop B119, Aurora, Colorado 80045 USA.
Federico E VacaUniversity of California Irvine School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, 829 Medical Science Court, Suite 231, California 92617 USA.
Siwei HuUniversity of California Irvine School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, 829 Medical Science Court, Suite 231, California 92617 USA.
Linda HillHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health, University of California, 9500 Gilman Dr. La Jolla, San Diego, California 92093 USA.
Julia GriswoldSafe Transportation Research and Education Center, University of California, Berkeley, 2150 Allston Way #400, Berkeley, California 94704 USA.
Kaigang LiColorado School of Public Health, CU Anschutz Fitzsimons Building, 13001 East 17th Place, 3rd Floor, Mail Stop B119, Aurora, Colorado 80045 USA.

Funding

Modeling a national Graduated-BAC per se policy for 21-24 y/o drivers to reduce alcohol impaired driving injury and fatal crashesR01AA032274 · NIAAA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI FEDERICO E VACA · 2025 to 2026
$1.3M
Modeling a national Graduated-BAC per se policy for 21-24 y/o drivers to reduce alcohol impaired driving injury and fatal crashesR56AA031271 · NIAAA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI VACA, FEDERICO E · 2024 to 2025
$293k
NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA032274NIAAA NIH HHS R56 AA031271
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objectives: To examine changes in alcohol-involved traffic crash rates among young drivers in California during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of alcohol-involved crashes among drivers aged 15-24 using data from the University of California, Berkeley Transportation Injury Mapping System (2016-2024). The primary exposure was COVID-19 policy period (pre-, during-, and post-pandemic). Annual crash rates per 100,000 population were calculated, and Poisson regression models estimated rate ratios (RRs) comparing COVID-19 periods, stratified by county, age, and sex, with subgroup interactions. Results: Of 56,019 crashes analyzed, 68.7% involved males and 58.5% Hispanic drivers. Alcohol-involved crash rates rose 19.98% after COVID onset, then declined to 114.63 per 100,000 in 2024 from 126.24 in 2016. Post-COVID rates were significantly higher among Hispanic youth (RR = 1.29; 95% confidence interval: 1.21-1.37), with the largest increase between ages 20 and 21. Conclusions: Alcohol-involved crashes among young drivers initially rose after COVID-19 and later steadily declined. However, Hispanic youth experienced a sustained rise compared to pre-COVID levels, indicating the need for ongoing monitoring and focused interventions.

Indexed as

AlcoholCaliforniaCOVID-19CrashesDisparitiesTrafficYouth

Identifiers

PMID42170659
PMCPMC13189544

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.