In August 1997 new legal measures concerning alcohol offenders have been introduced. Any offender who is caught with more then 0.12 percent BAC has to undergo a psychological driver improvement measure. Any offender who is caught with more then 0.16 percent BAC additionally has to undergo a psychological and a medical examination. With the lowering of the alcohol limit to 0.05 percent BAC (in January 1998) enforcement increased a lot. Thus for the following months and years a lot of information about the high BAC-drivers has been collected. This paper presents information based on those psychological examinations conducted at the Austrian Road Safety Board, which currently catches hold of the majority of drivers who have to undergo a psychological examination. Data on trip related issues, individual histories of alcohol consumption and alcohol related problems, personality factors, social and professional background, psycho-physiological performance are available as well as data on the judgement by the psychologist including diagnosis of problems and recommendations. This huge data set allows to test for several hypotheses. Especially the diagnostic criteria in psychological examination is presented and discussed.
Abstract