The nexus between neighborhood socioeconomic environment and substance-positive driving behavior: A spatial analysis in the Chicago metropolitan area.

INTRODUCTION

Numerous public health and transportation studies have established a strong link between low-socioeconomic status and impaired driving. However, few analyze how a neighborhood's socioeconomic environment influences individual driving behavior.

METHOD: To address this gap, we conducted a spatial econometric analysis at the neighborhood level, assessing the impact of socioeconomic conditions on alcohol and psychoactive drug-related crashes within zip code areas that are neighbored to each other. We merged hospital and crash data to create a dataset of drivers involved in substance-positive crashes through probabilistic data linkage. Socioeconomic factors including poverty, unemployment, income, and education were measured at the zip code level.

RESULTS

The spatial modeling results indicate that adverse socioeconomic conditions were associated with higher rates of substance-positive driving crashes in the zip code area and its neighboring zip code areas. Specifically, higher poverty rates were linked to a rise in substance-positive driving crashes in neighboring zip code areas. In comparison, a zip code area with a higher unemployment rate was linked with lower rates of such crashes. Additionally, a higher share of bachelor's degree holders was associated with fewer substance-positive driving, while median income shows no effect.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: These findings highlight the need for targeted substance abuse prevention and treatment programs, alongside workforce development initiatives and increased access to supportive resources, in low-socioeconomic areas as part of road safety programs.