Restricting extensions to permitted licensing hours does not influence the numbers of alcohol or assault related attendances at an inner city accident and emergency department.

Abstract

Objective-To determine the effect of restricting extensions to permitted licensing hours on the numbers of alcohol or assault related attendances at an inner city accident and emergency (A&E) department. Methods-Prospective data collection on consecutive attendances between 17.00 and 09.00 h during three study periods: two weeks before the introduction of the restriction, two weeks immediately afterwards, and for a two week period beginning five weeks after the change. Blood alcohol concentration was measured with a pocket alcohol meter. Results-Overall 56.5% of patients (n = 2836) provided a breath sample, and 28.9% (819) were positive. The proportion of patients testing positively peaked between 02.00 and 04.00 h. A very high proportion of assault cases who were tested (260) were positive (67.3%). Assault cases comprised 19.1% of all attendances between 24.00 and 04.00 h. No significant changes in the pattern of alcohol or assault related attendances followed the restriction in extensions to permitted licensing hours. Conclusions-A policy of uniform closing times of licensed premises does not influence the profile of alcohol or assault related attendances at an inner city A&E department. (7AccidEmergMed 1998;15:23-25)

Preventing Impaired Driving Using Alcohol Policy

“…Thus a recent study in the United Kingdom failed to find increases in alcohol-related or assault hospital admissions as a result of restricting to hours of sale (Graham, McLeod, & Steedman, 1998). A similar lack of effects has been reported for traffic crashes and property damage in Brisbane, Australia (Smith, 1988a) when hours of sale were temporarily extended.…”

Intervenciones preventivas en contextos recreativos nocturnos: revisión

“…However, other research finds that restricting opening hours does not have an effect on the numbers of alcohol-or assault-related visits to emergency rooms (Graham, McLeod and Steedman, 1998). In general terms, according to Graham (2000), there is no strong evidence that adjusting hours of operation is an effective policy intervention for reducing bar-related problems.…”

“…Sin embargo, otro estudio demuestra que reducir las horas de apertura no influye en el número de visitas a las salas de urgencias por cuestiones relacionadas con el alcohol o por agresiones (Graham, McLeod y Steedman, 1998). En términos generales, según Graham (2000), no hay pruebas consistentes de que el ajuste de las horas de apertura de los locales sea una medida eficaz para reducir los problemas derivados de los bares.…”

The Negative Effects of Alcohol Establishment Size and Proximity on the Frequency of Violent and Disorder Crime across Block Groups of Victoria, British Columbia

“…In particular, researchers have linked a higher density of on (bars, clubs, pubs) and off (liquor store, ubrews) premises alcohol establishments to the escalation of crime across multiple regions using various spatial and temporal units of analysis (e.g., census tracts, see [10,11] for review). Patterns of use indicate that alcohol consumption and crime reach their highest levels during the operating hours (weekend-nights) of on-premises drinking establishments [4,[12][13][14][15].…”