Differences in drinking and driving attitudes and behaviours among diverse groups of persons, i.e., White, Black, Asian, American Indian/Eskimo and Hispanic, were examined by pooling data from the 1993, 1995, and 1997 administrations of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's National Survey on Drinking and Driving Attitudes and Behaviour. The special analysis is based on responses from 10,453 persons, age 16 to 64 including 7,955 persons of White (non-Hispanic) descent, 1,026 of Black (non-Hispanic) descent, 743 Hispanics, 274 Asians, and 197 persons of American Indian or Eskimo descent. This report, Volume I: Findings, reports respondents' behaviours and attitudes on the frequency of drinking and driving, general attitudes regarding the problem, enforcement, legal limits, prevention, and crash and injury experience. Volume II: Methods Report describes the methods used to conduct the interviews and analyse the data. It also contains a copy of the most recent questionnaire. The findings show that self-reported prevalence of driving within two hours of drinking in the past year is at 28% for Whites, 21% for American Indians/Eskimos, 17% for Hispanics, 16% for Blacks, and 13% for Asians. While Whites as a group are the most likely to drive after drinking, those of Hispanic or American Indian/Eskimo descent are almost twice as likely as others to put themselves at risk by riding with a potentially impaired driver. Hispanics and American Indians/Eskimos are also more likely than other groups to meet the criteria of being a "problem drinker." Of the general driving age public, 98% see drinking and driving as a threat to their personal safety, and 86% feel it is very important to do something to reduce the problem. Whites, however, are least likely to see a problem or feel something should be done about it. American Indians/Eskimos are twice as likely as others to report being stopped for suspicion of drinking and driving, and Hispanics are most likely to report arrests from drinking and driving violations. Those of American Indian/Eskimo or Hispanic descent are less likely than others to feel that following a drinking-driving charge, punishment is a certainty. A majority of those who are aware of blood alcohol concentration levels (56%) support a legal limit of .08 or lower for their state, with the weakest support for an .08 limit occurring among White persons of driving age. (Author/publisher)
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