2018 Volume 5 Issue 2 Pages 256-271
To reduce the impact of drunk-driving behavior on accident risks, this study made an initial attempt to evaluate the public acceptance of designated driver services (DDS) in the Vietnamese context. A stated preference (SP) survey was implemented to capture more than 300 car and motorcycle drivers' preferences for various hypothetical DDS in Hanoi. The collected SP data were analyzed by employing a panel mixed logit model with both social interactions and heterogenous tastes. Positive social interactions leading the choice behavior to an equilibrium were found. This new service seems more effective to meet the needs of middle-aged people and office workers, who have the highest risk of drunk driving among all population groups. The modeling results further suggest that to reduce the prevalence of drunk-driving behavior and encourage people to use the new DDS, the government needs to tighten law enforcement, raise drunk-driving penalties, maintain the low cost of DDS, and educate people to internally mitigate their negative attitudes about drunk-driving behavior.
