In recent history, the UK has liberalized its rules concerning the hours that pubs can operate. For example, the Licensing Act of 1988 expanded Sunday hours and no longer required pubs to close for two and a half hours in the afternoon. In 2005, the law in England and Wales was further liberalized such that pubs could remain open until 5 am instead of closing at 11 pm. An article in the latest issue of the Journal of Health Economics claims that the 2005 liberalization of pub hours actually decreased the number of traffic accidents.
Theoretically, extended pub hours could either increase or decrease traffic accidents. Obviously, if people drink at a steady rate, they will usually become more intoxicated as the night progresses; extending pub hours could lead to more dangerous drivers. However, there are other ways that extended pub hours might plausibly reduce accidents. Without early pub closings, fewer pub patrons would make an additional drive to a second drinking location — such as to a party at a friend’s house. A later pub closing might also cause drinkers to drive home during hours with fewer cars are on the road.
Proponents of liberalized pub hours saw other benefits:
The initial government White Paper, Time for Reform …, contended that the uniform and early closing hour meant “that large numbers of drinkers come out onto the streets late at night at the same time causing disorder.” It also contended that early closing caused a “beat the clock” game that encouraged binge drinking. Famously, MP Jane Griffiths is quoted claiming that “The effect of compulsory closure has been for people to drink ‘against the clock’, with whole generations of young people learning to drink as much as possible in a short space of time …, Most of these young people are drunker than they would be if they drank at their own pace…”
During the time period under study, Great Britain saw generally declining traffic accidents and fatalities. For example, from 2000 to 2005, traffic fatalities and serious injuries fell from 41,000 to 32,000. The paper isolates the impact of the law from long run traffic trends by comparing England and Wales to Scotland — the 2005 changes did not impact Scotland. The reduction in traffic accidents for England and Wales are plausibly related to the change in pub hours because the largest reductions occurred during weekend nights and early mornings. The impact on young drinkers was particularly strong. Accidents involving young people on Friday and Saturday nights decreased by an estimated 32.5 percent.
READER COMMENTS
Tim Worstall
Apr 13 2014 at 4:28am
“open until 11 pm instead of closing at 9:30 pm”
9,30 was never standard closing time anywhere. 10.30 maybe, and usually 11 in London (local magistrates had a small amount of power to vary times across the country).
Bynn Walters
Apr 13 2014 at 6:07am
I left the UK in 1979; where I lived it was 11pm stop tap, previously having been 10:30pm.
James Schneider
Apr 13 2014 at 7:37am
@ Tim and Bynn
Thank you for the correction about 9:30. I’ve deleted this line from the post. The paper does mention 9:30 however the text of the Licensing Act itself mentions 10:30. I don’t know if the 9:30 is a mistake in the paper or if it is combining two aspects of the licensing act with an earlier change.
Hana
Apr 13 2014 at 3:49pm
Are those annual traffic fatalities? The numbers seem far too high. Might it be accidents?
James Schneider
Apr 13 2014 at 8:21pm
@ Hana Yes, this post has not been my finest hour.
Arthur_500
Apr 14 2014 at 1:43pm
This is interesting in that I have long argued for a model that eliminates a drinking age for beer and wine. They did this in Sweden and is has been very effective.
Currently, Americans look to the age of majority as a rite of passage. It is a night to get drunk to celebrate that you can. Under-age individuals look to drinking as symbolic of being grown up. They are in effect drinking ‘against the clock’
This study seems to indicate that reduction of the need to binge drink enables people to either be more responsible or so drunk that they can’t drive anyway.
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