Lohan Arrest Highlights DUI License Suspension Study

Wagenaar said he hoped his study would lead those nine remaining states to enact immediate suspension laws as well.

"If they want to reduce the burden of alcohol-related vehicular accidents in their states, they should enact similar policies," he said.

A Number of Factors Involved

Adrian Lund, the president of IIHS, is confident of the positive effects of immediate license suspensions. He said results of the University of Florida study are in line with numbers the IIHS found in earlier studies.

"It's one of the legal changes that I think has had the most consistent beneficial effects," he said.

He added that a number of factors, including the immediate license suspensions, contributed to the drop in drunken driving deaths during the 1980s. These included laws that meant blood-alcohol limit alone was enough for a conviction -- meaning that a drunken driver could not sway the jury by appearing sober and well dressed in a courtroom a month after the incident.

Additionally, Lund said, the increased drinking age reduced the number of teenagers driving under the influence and Mothers Against Drunk Driving made DUI something that was not socially acceptable.

These advances, he explained, not only took drunken drivers off the roads but dissuaded others from driving after a few drinks.

"Everyone knows about it, and it's the fear that you will lose your license and it will be taken away immediately," Lund said.

Encore Performance for Lohan

California, the state in which Lohan holds her license, was among the states receiving the highest quality rating for their DUI laws from the IIHS -- a merit garnered by only 18 other states.

However, the fact that Lohan's license had already been suspended following a previous DUI car accident brings up another interesting facet of the problem -- offenders that continue to drive even after their licenses have been suspended.

"We're always looking for something that completely solves the problem," said Wagenaar. "That's essentially never achievable.

"Some people with suspended licenses continue to drive, and thus continue to create these risks."