Perhaps the most significant thing about another study on drunken driving that puts Wisconsin at the top of a bad list is not the actual numbers involved but the reaction of researchers. “I’m not shocked; I’m not surprised,” said one. Nor was another: “I think that’s what weve seen historically,” he said.
That points to a need for better education, stiffer penalties for drunken driving and a change in the states notorious drinking culture. That wont be easy, but lives really do depend on making that change. [Also quotes: Paul Moberg, senior scientist in the Population Health Institute at UW-Madison and co-author of a 2007 study on Wisconsin’s alcohol and drug use patterns.]