A review is made of the involvement of young people in alcohol- related accidents in Britain. The basis for this comprises statistical analyses of police reports of injury accidents, coroners' reports of fatalities, driver licensing records, and specially designed behavioural studies of drink/driving offenders and drivers involved in accidents. Comparison has been made between the characteristics and behaviour of the young road users relative to those of other age groups. Statistical material is presented which compares the blood alcohol levels of the different types of road user killed in accidents, their demographic characteristics, the circumstances of the incident,and other details. Similarly the characteristics of young road users who exceeded the legal limits when involved in injury accidents are described. Data from driving licence records which list motoring convictions have been used to contrast the relative incidence of drinking convictions against those for other motoring offenc s, for differing age groups. Two behavioural studies, involving interview of road users, are reported which are aimed at obtaining a more complete profile of drinking drivers and their social habits. In the first, the characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of drink/driving offenders with known blood alcohol levels were compared with those of a suitable control group of drivers. In the second, currently in progress in one police force area, the driver characteristics, drinking habits and other relevant information, are related to blood alcohol levels for accident involved drivers and riders, over a complete range of alcohol levels.
Abstract