When planning countermeasures to drunken driving knowledge of the whole problem is required. Do the data of the arrested drivers reveal the real profile of dwi in community? This was investigated from a statistical point of view and on the basis of roadside surveys in the second part of the study. All reliable data (28 variables) of the police's examination request form, the clinical examination and laboratory results of all suspected drunken drivers (about 21000) arrested in finland during one year were analysed. The typical finnish drunken driver is quite a young, skilled, male worker often claiming having taken drugs and suffering from diseases. He is mostly arrested between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. especially at weekends while driving a passenger car and being quite heavily intoxicated. Ingestion of alcohol was mostly confirmed by alcolmeter breathalyser. A multivariable analysis indicated that there were clear provincial, urban-rural, time-bound, sex-linked, age-related differences in the profile of drunken driving related to different social parameters. The present results are greatly affected by the activity of the police and may, therefore, not give right answers to the problem. However, this kind of material is widely used as the basis when countermeasures against dwi are planned. For the covering abstract of the conference see irrd 259956.
Abstract