Alcohol- involved driving situations are commonly encountered by adolescent drivers. Not much is known about young drivers' ability to analyse common potentially dangerous alcohol- involved driving situations. Three groups of adolescent drivers responded to a questionnaire, part of which contained drinking and driving scenarios to test each drivers' decision- making skills and attitudes with respect to drinking and driving. Three comparison groups consisted of DWI offenders (driving while intoxicated) in the 16- 19 year old age group, juvenile offenders without DWI citations and non- offending high school drivers. Analysis of drinking and driving situations showed that adolescent DWI offenders, more often than controls, associate alcohol with social events (p<0.001), play drinking games (p=0.1), drive fast to resolve stress (p=0.002), more often drink prior to driving (p<0.001), become angry when questioned about driving ability (p<0.001), are less likely to recruit parents when having to drive home intoxicated (p<0.001) and a number of other situational characteristics indicating differential risk between groups for DWI. Important aspects of these findings are discussed in the context of intervention strategies.
Abstract