Identifying research needs and opportunities should be a relatively easy task. it isn't because there exists little consensus eitherabout what we need to know or what is already known. alcohol and traffic safety is an issue that has profound social and political implications. accordingly, rational and systematic initiatives often give way to political and social exigencies. in such a context there exist very different perspectives on what is known and what needs to be known. at opposite extremes are those who assert that our knowledge base is perfectly adequate and those who argue that our knowledge base if frightfully inadequate. likely, reality lies intermediate tothese perspectives. this paper emerges within this context and these perspectives. needs and opportunities are defined, followed by an historical perspective on the topic. the next section deals with research needs relevant to the magnitude and extent of the problem of alcohol-related accidents, including its monitoring over time. this section deals primarily with data bases, their characteristics and utility. the next section deals with research needs related to the nature and characteristics of this problem, particularly human-related factors such as who drives after drinking and why. the final sectiondeals with methodological research needs.
Abstract