An aggregate level analysis of the socioeconomic correlates of drink driving offenders

Research within urban sociology and social geography has discussed the rela tion between the spatial or aggregate level distribution of various social and demographic variables and a wide range of social problems. This paper t akes the spirit of these studies as a starting point and applies methods of social area analysis to study drink driving offender rates within the Suns hine Coast-Brisbane-Gold Coast conurbation. The major findings of the paper are that at the aggregate level there is a strong correlation between rate s of drink driving offenders and particular social and demographic factors. As such the findings support existing studies that have identified given s ocial characteristics of drink drivers. In addition, the findings also illu strate the need to consider a range of aggregate social and demographic var iables in future research. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserv ed.